Illinois Review

Socialism Is Rising and Now So Is Soviet Revisionism

The collapse of the Berlin Wall 30 years ago was one of the most momentous days in history. 

It represented the last gasp of a wicked regime that destroyed the lives of millions, and a new beginning for the many people held under the thumb of communism for generations.

It was a triumph of freedom over authoritarianism, a triumph for the United States and its allies in the long struggle to keep the flames of liberty alive in the face of ever-spreading darkness.

Not so fast, though, says The Daily Beast. On Veterans Day, the left-leaning outlet published an article claiming that “much of what many of us learned in school about the struggle between the U.S. and USSR was very, very wrong.”

More HERE

Another Reason for California Blackouts?

According to the official, widely reported story, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) shut down substantial portions of its electric transmission system in northern California as a precautionary measure.

Citing high wind speeds they described as “historic,” the utility claims that if it didn’t turn off the grid, wind-caused damage to its infrastructure could start more wildfires.

Perhaps that’s true. Perhaps. This tale presumes that the folks who designed and maintain PG&E’s transmission system are unaware of or ignored the need to design it to withstand severe weather events, and that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) allowed the utility to do so.

Ignorance and incompetence happens, to be sure, but there’s much about this story that doesn’t smell right—and it’s disappointing that most journalists and elected officials are apparently accepting it without question.

More HERE

Alarmists Killed Own Conference in Chile

Riots in Chile forced Chilean President Sebastian Pinera to announce on that Chile could no longer host a United Nations climate conference scheduled for December. Climate activists are scrambling in disarray, hoping to find a replacement nation to host the Conference of the Parties Climate Conference (COP25) at a future date, but they have themselves to blame for the conference being cancelled. Aggressive Chilean climate policies that have raised energy costs, raised transportation costs, and taken money out of Chilean household budgets sparked the riots that caused the Chilean government to back out of hosting the U.N. conference.

Media outlets are currently claiming income inequality is the reason people in Chile are rioting in the streets. As the same media outlets properly noted last week, however, the protests began in response to fare hikes for the Santiago Metro, which hit low-income people especially hard.

More HERE

Illinois Review starts 15th year

On November 6th, 2005, a brand new news source stuck its tiny toe into the scary cold, cold Illinois /Chicago media waters. Those that encouraged its launch were fed up with a Leftist-dominated media - and its refusal to share the "other side of the story." 

15 years later, and many, many news sources have come and gone while Illinois Review has worked as much as humanly possible to continue to give a conservative perspective on Illinois news. We've seen the state's conservative movement grow and flatline over the years. We were on hand to report the Tea Party Movement. 

Through it all, our cause has remained the same - to do all we can to share helpful information with like-minded readers. 

Thank you for sharing our stories, our viewpoints and our ideas. We especially want to thank our generous contributors such as John F. Di Leo, Nancy Thorner, Mark Weyermuller and others that have volunteered their time and talents for the cause. 

We appreciate all of you. 

For fun, here's a link to our very first news story ... November 6th, 2005.

State Rep Darren Bailey: Trump's leadership - Good for Illinois, Good for America.

By State Rep. Darren Bailey -  

Illinois’ economic fortunes are turning around. After years of struggling to recover from the so-called Great Recession of 2008, the tide seems to be turning. Here are some of the headlines this year from the Illinois Department of Employment Security: 

• Illinois Payrolls Up in Nearly All Industries from Prior Year
• Illinois Payrolls at Record High in January
• Jobs up in Eight Metro Areas
• Illinois Payrolls Up in April
• Unemployment rate down in twelve metros
• Illinois Payrolls Up 11,400 in June
• Illinois Payrolls Hold Steady in July - Unemployment Rate Drops to 4.2 Percent
• Unemployment Rate Falls to Historic Low in August - Illinois Payrolls Remain Stable, with 65,000 More Jobs than a Year Ago
• Unemployment Rate Falls to New Historic Low in September Illinois Payrolls Up Across Most Industries

These aren’t all of the headlines, but they are representative of the state’s positive economic news.

Is what Trump said in this phone call impeachable?

WASHINGTON DC - It's sort of like those psychological Rorschach tests, pundits are saying. What you see when you look at the transcript of President Trump's phone call with the newly-elected Ukraine President Zelenskyy July 25, 2019 reveals the media sources and the political viewpoint a person holds.

Did Trump ask a favor from the president that required a correct response or federal assistance funds would end? Did he commit bribery or extortion as the Democrats insist? 

Here's a copy of the transcript the President has declassified for the American public to see for themselves:

Daily Northwestern editor refuses to publish College Republicans' response to Sessions' protest

CHICAGO - Northwestern University College Republicans invited former Attorney General Jeff Sessions to address issues he faced while serving in the Trump Administration and the U.S. Senate. However, Sessions' speech was interrupted time and time again by shouting protestors, and the Republican organization's guest had to be escorted out with armed security after the event. 

The College Republicans had something to say about how their guest was treated - but was met immediately with a brick wall surrounding the Daily Northwestern's editorial office. The student paper refused to publish their response.

The following is a letter offered to the Daily Northwestern's editor from the Northwestern University College Republicans:

Rossi: Socialist Insanity

By Randy Rossi - 

Two recent polls regarding what young people think about socialism in America should scare the heck out of every rational and informed American. First, Gallup did a poll that found that 58% of young people aged from 18-34 prefer socialism to capitalism.

That is scary enough. But a new poll done by YouGov found that 70% of Millennials would probably vote for a socialist and 33% would probably vote for a communist.

How does that sound as we watch the people of once prosperous Venezuela starve to death with no electricity thanks to socialism? That YouGov poll also found that only 57% of Millennials think that our Declaration of Independence better guarantees freedom and equality than the Communist Manifesto does. And not only do these people get to vote, they will soon be the voting majority in America as us “Baby Boomers” fade away!

$25,000 reward offered for meteorite remains found in western St. Louis suburbs

ST. LOUIS - Downstate skywatchers in eight different states were stunned Monday night when a meteor estimated to be five feet across flashed across the sky, and likely landed - a much smaller version - somewhere west of the St. Louis suburbs. 

The meteor was traveling about 44,000 mph, scientists are saying - and it caused a loud sonic boom when it hit the Earth's atmosphere.

"That was a sonic boom. As the thing was entering the atmosphere it was moving much faster than the speed of sound so that was a sonic boom from a relatively large object crashing through the atmosphere," a professor explained to St. Louis TV station KMOV2.

Nativity Scene ceremony at State Capitol planned for Dec 3

SPRINGFIELD - Christians will gather at the Illinois State Capitol December 3rd at noon to celebrate the 12th Annual Nativity Dedication Ceremony. The crèche and manger scene will stand in the Illinois Capitol Rotunda through Christmas - as the First Amendment allows - for as long as the displays are privately-sponsored and temporary in nature, the organizers say.

At least 19 other states have followed Illinois’ lead in displaying a Nativity Scene in their capitols.

Is it Climate Socialism – or Eco-fascism?

Green New Deal climate alarm socialism is really intolerant, totalitarian eco-fascism.

Green New Dealers have convinced themselves that our planet faces an imminent, existential, manmade climate cataclysm – that can be prevented solely and simply by government edicts replacing fossil fuels with biofuel, wind, solar and battery energy. They achieve this state of absolute certainty largely by propagating constant scare stories, while ignoring and suppressing contradictory evidence and viewpoints.

They deliberately and deceptively talk about “carbon pollution.” Carbon is soot – what our cars, factories and power plants now emit in very small quantities. The honest, accurate term is carbon dioxide: the colorless, odorless, invisible gas that we exhale and plants need to grow, by using the tiny but growing 0.04% of Earth’s atmosphere that is CO2 to grow faster, better and with greater resistance to droughts.

More HERE

Next Generation of Americans Will Embrace Socialism If We Lose ‘War on History’

As young Americans are losing an understanding of civics and American history, they increasingly embrace socialism.

An annual poll conducted for the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation again found that the younger generations have a far sunnier view of socialism and communism than their elders.

Some of the findings from the YouGov survey, released Oct. 28, were deeply worrisome.

According to the poll, 70% of millennials responded that they are likely or extremely likely to vote for a “socialist.” About 50% said they have an unfavorable view of capitalism.

Incredibly, the poll found that “15% of millennials think the world would be better off if the Soviet Union still existed.”

Seventy-six percent of respondents “are unaware that the Hitler-Stalin pact started World War II,” the poll found.

The Soviets, of course, began World War II as an ally of Hitler, only switching “sides” after the Nazis attacked the Soviet Union. 

Nevertheless, a victory for the Soviet Union without the presence of the United States would have likely begun a new dark age as horrifying as a world under the thumb of Nazi Germany.

Perhaps worse than nostalgia for the Soviet Union, “57% of millennials (compared to 94% of the Silent Generation) believe the Declaration of Independence better guarantees freedom and equality over the Communist Manifesto.”

That’s appalling.

More HERE

Will the Democratic Sweep in Virginia Resurrect the Equal Rights Amendment?

The Equal Rights Amendment is being resurrected. Charlotte Hays writes:

Congress approved the ERA in March of 1972, setting a seven-year period to get approval of the three quarters of the states required to pass a constitutional amendment. The time was extended to 1982, but still only 35 states had approved the ERA.

Nevada and Illinois approved the ERA after President Trump was elected. So, Virginia’s approval would make the 38th state.

But it's more than 30 years after the deadline extension. Supporters of the ERA will go all in for a new extension that would allow a belated approval vote by Virginia to put the ERA over the finish line.

California’s ‘Woke’ Prop 47 Doomed Cities With Crime Rings And Theft

California's Prop 47 has been a disaster for the Golden State. Erielle Davidson writes:

Since the passage of the infamous Prop 47 five years ago, then marketed by California Democrats as the “Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act,” theft has increased across the state, as organized crime rings have transformed ordinary shoplifting into a lucrative and sophisticated operation. It’s likely no coincidence that San Francisco now has the highest rate of property crime of America’s twenty largest cities.

Free Speech Means Free Speech

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is doing a poor job on speech. Bradley A. Smith writes:

Twitter’s new policy, and Dorsey’s explanation for it, demonstrate a muddled understanding of the purpose of speech. Dorsey worries that Twitter advertising might influence voters—but influencing people is the essence of speech in a free society, and persuading others is presumably why Dorsey sent out a tweet stream explaining himself. Removing a major source of low-cost political advertising from Twitter harms those who don’t yet have a large audience but are looking for an inexpensive way to reach voters and identify new supporters. By Dorsey’s logic, free speech should be allowed only when it is ineffective.

Thorner: Taking a Stand Against Communist China

By Nancy Thorner -

President Trump is the first president to stand up to Communist China in almost 50 years. Once known as "Red China' to distinguish the mainland regime from the anti-communist Chinese that fled to Taiwan in 1949, the Communist dictators have stolen America's intellectual property for decades.

This is the same tyrannical China against which millions of people on Hong Kong are protesting now.

Illinois' 2003 fee hikes handed Indiana a trucking industry explosion

SPRINGFIELD - Numbers from the Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (CoGFA) show Illinois' decision to hike trucking license fees in 2003 blocked the state from the current national transportation boom and paved the way for Indiana's to explode. 

Indiana showed 599,956 trucks licensed at the end of 2018, up 516% from 116,250 trucks licensed in 2003. 

At the same time, Illinois' trucking licenses went down 11%. In 2003, IL had 175,223 trucks. That number declined to 155,245 at the end of 2018.

Who Should Win the Nobel Peace Prize?

Most Republicans Agree - Trump Changed the Party for the Better

There is little doubt in the minds of Republican voters that President Donald Trump has changed their party, according to new Morning Consult data and analysis, but questions linger on whether his specific brand of Republicanism is good for its health, or whether it is permanent.

More HERE

Trump Holds Double-Digit Edge Over Rivals on Voters’ Strong Economic Confidence

Trump holds double-digit leads over his closest Democratic rivals on the question of which candidate voters trust "a lot" to handle the economy if elected president, according to a new Morning Consult/POLITICO poll.

More HERE

Witness to Public Schools Brainwashing

According to the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation’s (VOC) fourth “Annual Report on US Attitudes Toward Socialism, Communism, and Collectivism,” today’s youth is quite fond of political-economic systems that have resulted in more than 100 million deaths over the past century. At the same time, these misguided youths are increasingly hostile toward the political-economic system that has lifted countles millions more out of abject poverty over the same period.

“This year’s study showed increased support for communism (36 percent) among Millennials compared to 2018. Opinions of capitalism took a steep decline from 2018 to 2019, with only one-in-two among Millennials (ages 23-38) and Generation Z (ages 16-22) having a favorable opinion of capitalism,” the report noted.

Chile’s Revolt Against Climate Policies

Add Chile to the growing list of countries whose governments are suffering a backlash as average people, tired of elites forcing costly climate policies down their throats, take to the streets to protest higher energy costs.

Although, undoubtedly, many issues stoked the protests on the streets across Chile, the Washington Post rightly notes that what finally drove the public to take to the streets was the government's decision to curry favor with international agencies by pushing expensive energy restrictions to fight purported climate change.  As the Post states, "[T]he catalyst [behind the protests] was a proposal to raise public transport fares and energy bills. There is ample evidence from across the world that these will incite rebellion like nothing else — a point that those who hope to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions via a carbon tax should bear in mind."

CPS teacher pay up, CPS enrollment down by another 6000

CHICAGO - Just days after the Chicago Public School teachers union settled an 11-day strike, the CPS released figures showing they've lost another 6000 students this school year. 

The biggest enrollment drop came at district-run elementary schools, which saw enrollment go down 2.3%, or 4,793 kids, the Chicago Sun-Times reports, from 207,032 to 202,239 — "an alarming trend" for the district as fewer families start their young children in the system.

Skillicorn pushes to save daylight time longer in Illinois

EAST DUNDEE – It's that time of year again, when the sun goes down around 5:00 PM, and folks do their best to adjust to Chicago's darkness. It's not easy for many to make that adjustment.

Recent news reports have highlighted some of the health risks associated with moving clocks forward and backward each year, which is one reason State Rep. Allen Skillicorn (R-Crystal Lake) is continuing to push legislation he introduced earlier this spring to make Daylight Savings Time permanent in Illinois.

Americans don't approve of biological males identifying as girls competing in girls' sports

DC - Transgender athletes that are biological males are winning at all levels of girls’ and women’s sports these days, and Americans don’t approve.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that just 29% of American Adults favor allowing transgender students to participate on the sports teams of the gender they identify with, letting biological males, for example, play girls’ sports. Fifty-one percent (51%) oppose transgender participation on sports teams of the opposite sex. Twenty percent (20%) are undecided. 

Ives salutes Veterans

WHEATON - Donning the jacket her grandfather wore while he served in World War I, GOP candidate Jeanne Ives (IL-06) salutes the veterans in her family and all American families leading up to November 11 - Veteran's Day.

Thorner: Rev. Franklin Graham: Trump is president because of God

By Nancy Thorner -

Donald Trump is president because of God.

That's what the Rev. Franklin Graham told those gathered at the 11th  Annual Faith, Family, Freedom Fall Banquet held by the Illinois Family Institute and its sister organization Illinois Family Action at the Tinley Park Convention Center Friday, November 1, 2019.

Pro-Trump writers promote American Greatness website in unlikely Chicago suburbs

OAK BROOK - "History is littered with bloodless coup attempts. But in the Trump era, enemy combatants not only are spared bloodshed, they don’t even have to give their names. That’s not courage or 'speaking truth to power'—it’s calculated cowardice that would be out-of-bounds in any criminal trial, job setting, or personal relationship. Impeachment rules aside, most Americans will, and should, view this as patently unfair and a legitimate danger to our system of government now and in the future." 

So writes conservative opinion leader Julie Kelly in her latest column "The Anonymous Coup" in the pro-Trump national website, American Greatness. 

1776, not 1619: America was founded on liberty, not slavery

America’s Founding was not defined by slavery and white supremacy—quite the contrary. Arthur Milikh writes:

Black Americans have been treated in a grossly unjust fashion throughout our history. But the Declaration and the Constitution themselves, according to the Founders’ intentions, contain the principles through which justice would come, as Fredrick Douglass and, later, Martin Luther King, Jr. believed. These countervailing facts and statements, should produce a more balanced view of America’s Founding. Why, then, are they so thoroughly and carefully avoided by today’s narrative-creators, who intend to persuade through distortion?

Baghdadi’s Final Humiliation

First he lost his state, then he took his life. Thanks to President Trump.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi left his caliph in a tattered state. Graeme Wood writes:

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has not provided a state for quite a while. Within the Islamic State, members have grumbled that he has been an absentee caliph, gone for months at a time, and not even clear in his instructions about whom to follow in his absence. The group long since stopped promising a paradise, and downgraded its territorial offering to a hellscape soon to be overrun by its enemies. It became ideologically split, with hard-liners accusing others of being softies, and both the softies and the hard-liners trying to kill one another. Baghdadi, it seems, was gone for much of this debate, and provided only vague guidance and little in the way of security or leadership. Some former supporters have felt abandoned, and have voiced their disgust.

No room for debate: academia’s one-sided conversation

Oberlin University is paying the price of political correctness. The university complied with a court order to post a $36 million bond after an Ohio court ruled against the university in a defamation lawsuit brought by Gibson’s Bakery. The case arose from an incident in 2016 when the owner, who is a frequent target of student shoplifters, tackled an African-American male, who was subsequently arrested. The community accused the owner, who is white, of racial profiling, and the university sided with the protesters. During a visit to the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board, Oberlin University President Carmen Twillie Ambar said, “You can have two different lived experiences, and both those things can be true.” This sentiment has pervaded academia, where such things as personal narrative and the theory of intersectionality have become the impetus for modern activism. Lived experience has ousted reason. Empiricism has given way to the concept that one’s experience and identity solely inform truth. If truth, then, is based on your exclusive perspective, what sense does it make to engage with a narrative that differs from your own? This shift has had a profoundly negative impact on public discourse, yet also assures us that the answer to a change in education lies in education itself.

More HERE

Weyermuller: Northwestern students protest former AG Jeff Sessions

Sessions leaving Northwestern University with armed security - Mark Weyermuller photo

By Mark Weyermuller -

Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions was met with angry protesters Tuesday night at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. The event, sponsored the Northwestern College Republicans and the Young Americans Foundation (YAF), was held at the university's Lutkin Hall with about 250 people in attendance, mostly students.

Check out FoxNews.com story on the protest, including Weyermuller's tweet

The title of Sessions' speech was, “The Real Meaning of the Trump Agenda.” The speech was sold out as a ticketed event with attendees going through bag checks and scanning of their tickets.

     

The Borderline Bar and Grill: A Tale of Men and Masculinity

On November 7, 2018, a gunman opened fire inside a crowded bar in Thousand Oaks, California. Lives were lost that night, but lives were also saved. Who saved them? How? What can these heroes teach us? Journalist Abigail Shrier answers these questions in this powerful video.

Sharp shooting U.S. envoy rattles Kenyan tweeps

The U.S. ambassador to Kenya [and former Illinois State Senator] Kyle McCarter is not afraid of showing displeasure. His verified Twitter page is one of the places he goes to express his unfiltered opinions on emerging issues. On Friday evening, he engaged his followers in an animated debate over Nairobi-Mombasa Highway. He was reacting to media reports that the US government has ditched the project due to corruption by Kenyan government.

“There is so much wrong with this article, I do not know where to start to respond. Total RUBBISH,” he said.

‘Medicare for All’ Actually Isn’t Medicare at All

"Medicare for All" would work more like Medicaid. Kevin Pham writes:

Medicare for All would cost over $30 trillion in the next 10 years in ideal conditions, but still require physicians and providers to take a pay cut of up to 40% and continue working with the same productivity.

The problem is that physicians already are heavily burdened with their workload. In the 2018 Physicians Foundation survey, up to 80% of physicians reported working at their maximum capacity or beyond.

It’s Not Climate Change To Blame For California’s Fires And Blackouts. It’s Democrats.

California is in flames because of misgovernance, not climate change. Chuck DeVore writes:

California’s politicians, including Newsom, are waking up to the connection between forest management and wildfires, although it is too little, too late. Newsom signed 22 wildfire-related bills in the closing days of this year’s legislative session, admitting during his campaign for office that California had “Hundreds of millions of dead trees” while noting that it cost his father $35,000 to clear “a small little patch of dead trees” on his property.

The year before, outgoing four-term Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown flipped on his longtime opposition to active forest management when he signed two bills into law.

[Chuck Devore, “It’s Not Climate Change To Blame For California’s Fires And Blackouts. It’s Democrats,” The Federalist, October 30]

Oberweis wins Lake Co GOP endorsement in 14th CD primary

US Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) recently led fundraiser for Jim Oberweis' campaign

SUGAR GROVE - Among numerous Republicans who've said they're running to regain the 14th CD from the Democrats, Lake County Republicans will be backing State Senator Jim Oberweis in the March 2020 GOP Primary, they decided Saturday.

Lake County Republican Central Committee Chairman Mark Shaw said, “All of the Republican candidates seeking the nomination for US Representative from the 14th Congressional District had an opportunity to make their case that they would be the best candidate to win the General Election in 2020.  Jim Oberweis earned the endorsement because he made the strongest case for success against Rep. Lauren Underwood. We need a candidate who stands up for our Republican values, and who has a path for victory in the race for US Representative in the 14th District.  Jim Oberweis checks all of these boxes.”

Right to Life group ties Illinois' high preterm birth rates to unrestricted abortion access

CHICAGO -  On Monday, Illinois Right to Life Executive Director Mary Kate Knorr responded to a new March of Dimes report that gave Chicago and Illinois D+ ratings for notably high preterm birth rates, relative to the rest of the country. The report noted that the preterm birth rate amongst African American women in Illinois was 52 percent higher than all other Illinois women.

“It is no surprise that Illinois and Chicago have a preterm birth problem – because Illinois and Chicago have an obvious abortion problem,” said Knorr. “Abortion procedures do irreversible damage to a woman’s uterine wall and cervix, drastically increasing the likelihood she’ll experience future miscarriages or preterm delivery.

Trump Admin to challenge Obama era discrimination against faith-based groups

WASHINGTON - In 2011, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan used a single complaint to launch an investigation into faith-based groups that facilitated adoption.

Her investigation led to the state quickly withdrawing affiliation with faith-based groups like Catholic Charities' adoption agencies in Rockford, Joliet, Springfield, Peoria, and Southern Illinois, as well as Evangelical Child and Family Services in Wheaton, Illinois.

Eight years later, those faith-based groups that uphold traditional marriage remain severed from helping parentless children find homes.

A development on these issues  in the other direction is taking place at the federal level, however.

Chicago teachers' deal to cost $627 million over next 5 years

CHICAGO - When protestors held signs saying "We Support Chicago Teachers and Staff" last week alongside striking teachers and staff, they may not have had any idea how much those signs were going to cost them between 2020 and 2025. 

The Chicago Teachers Union ended an 11-day walkout after reaching an agreement with Mayor Lori Lightfoot that’s poised to cost a total of at least $627 million during the next five years, the Illinois Policy Institute reports. 

Illinois' Gov Pritzker among 10 least-liked governors

SPRINGFIELD - If you read and watch only Chicago washed-up media or listen to Springpatch propaganda radio, you'd think Democrat political domination is cool and progressive - and that Democrat Governor J.B. Pritzker is not only solving all the state's woes, he's on the road to the White House. 

But evidently, that's not exactly what Illinois voters think.

Despite Illinois media scare, CDC reports THC cause most vaping illnesses

On October 15, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported “1,479 lung injury cases associated with e-cigarettes or vaping.” CDC was provided data on 1,358 patients and found 70 percent are male. The median age of the 1,358 patients “is 23 years and ages range from 13 to 75 years.”

CDC obtained information on types of substances vaped for 849 patients. Of these, 78 percent reported using vaping products containing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and only 10 percent self-reported “exclusive use of nicotine-containing products.” CDC notes that “national and state data suggest that products containing THC, particularly those obtained off the street […] are linked to most of the cases and play a major role in the outbreak.”

The most recent report parallels others by the CDC. On October 10, CDC found that of patients with lung-illness attributed to vaping devices, 76 percent “reported using THC-containing products,” and 13 percent “reported exclusive use of nicotine-containing products.” CDC reports on September 24 and October 3 also had similar findings.

More HERE

Thorner: Beware: US government schools brainwash children with anti-American lies

By Nancy Thorner - 

Having grown up abroad, author Alex Newman's first experience with American government education was when he moved back to Florida and attended the University of Florida. There he took a course in American History to find that is was being taught by a raving feminist. Instead of teaching the class American history, they learned about the history of feminism and Marxism.

Overwhelmed with his experience, Newman searched the internet and found out about conservative educator and leader Phyllis Schlafly.

Parents signup to oppose mandated LGBTQ curriculum agenda

SPRINGFIELD - "While the Christian faith does not stand in the way of the LGBTQ community having the freedom to live as they please, their choices must not be imposed on us..." 

Words from a fundamentalist pastor's sermon in southern U.S.? How about from a right wing extremist website? 

It's from neither. It's from a British parent group called "Our Children Our Faith Our Rights" [OCOFOR] that is not sitting back in anticipation of a law that will affect their children's education in Fall 2020.

Private Sector Rushes to Stop Government

By Seton Motley - 

The answer to everything even remotely policy-related – is less government. Because the original sin of everything even remotely policy-related – is too much government. Want to solve our health care “crisis” – ???  Undo the original government sins.

After World War II – taxes were kept at during-WW II levels.  So in an end run around this too much government – the private sector started offering employees untaxed “benefits”…including health insurance. Post-WW II set up a bizarre, antithetical-to-Reality system…where health insurance isn’t tied to the person – it’s tied to the person’s employer.  Which is inherently very stupid.

Financial State of Chicago Public Schools

The Chicago Teachers Union made national news by striking for smaller classroom sizes and salary increases. A recently released analysis of the Financial State of Chicago Public Schools (CPS), shows that CPS already needs more than $17 billion to pay its bills. This breaks down to a hair-raising $18,900 per Chicago taxpayer.

Higher Pay, Shorter Tenure in Universities

The tenure of higher education leadership is getting shorter, pay greater.

It is the best of times and the worst of times for college presidents.

In its latest compilation of salaries for university leaders—presidents, chancellors, system heads—the Chronicle of Higher Education found 61 private universities and 17 public universities paid their top executive more than $1 million in 2018. Three years earlier, 59 private university presidents were paid $1 million or more, as were seven public university presidents.

Talgo: Politicians Are Lying to You About Vaping

By Chip Talgo - 

Infamous Nazi Germany propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels once said, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” Unfortunately, almost 80 years later, Goebbels’ maxim is alive and well in the United States.

Over the last few weeks, the political class (with assistance from the mainstream media) has peddled a flat-out, reprehensible lie about the recent wave of hospitalizations supposedly due to vaping.

Their “story” is completely false. Politicians and their media allies know it’s false; however, they keep pushing the Big Lie.

State Rep. Luis Arroyo "retires" abruptly after being charged with bribery

CHICAGO — Illinois State Rep. Luis Arroyo was charged this week in federal court with offering a bribe to a fellow state lawmaker in an effort to influence and reward the lawmaker for supporting legislation that would benefit Arroyo’s private lobbying client, according to the FBI.

Friday, Rep. Arroyo announced he was "retiring" from office abruptly, just as an Illinois House committee was to meet to discuss whether to begin a process to oust him from office.

"I have made the decision that the time has come for me to retire from public service," Arroyo said in his resignation letter to Speaker Mike Madigan. 

Arroyo said in his resignation letter that he respected his colleagues and he was resigning in order to "spare the members of this body from having to take such a difficult vote at a time when you are all running for re-election considering how well we have all worked together." 

Then Arroyo issued a caution to his colleagues.

Thorner/O'Neil: When impeachment overrules fixing nation's problems

By Nancy Thorner & Bonnie O'Neil -

Do our nation's children and grandchildren take the United States’ prosperity, freedoms, and way of life for granted?  Most likely they do, often because they have never experienced anything different, such as most of us have not experienced the pain of being hungry because we have so little to eat.  But even if such a situation should develop, we do have family members or neighbors willing to help in time of financial trouble.  We also have both short-term and long-term government welfare programs that provide assistance for struggling families in need of food and/or shelter.