Illinois Review

Thorner: Time for open, honest dialogue about treating coronavirus - Part 1

(This article is informational only, not intended to be medical advice. Pros and cons of treatments are offered) 

By Nancy Thorner - 

"Yep, you're COVID positive. Go home and stay home until you're negative. Call 911 if you can't breathe." 

That's about the extent of what those stricken with COVID over the past 18 months have been told on how to treat the virus symptoms. Little, if any, other help is offered to keep one from ending up in the hospital. It's a dilemma that has baffled anyone observing the pandemic. 

But the question is "Why?" And why is the media slapping down any possible treatments that some find that work? 

In a report published by Liberty Counsel on Sept. 14, 2021, Ivermectin: Scare Tactics Unfounded, the report begins as follows: "The media is attempting to paint a picture in our minds that ivermectin is a 'horse wormer' and isn’t for human consumption. There are in fact two different forms of ivermectin. One is for livestock and the other is for human beings. As for safety, over four billion doses have been given to human patients since 1998."

“In 2015, the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine, in its only award for treatments of infectious diseases for six decades prior, honored the discovery of ivermectin, a multifaceted drug deployed against some of the world’s most devastating tropical diseases. Since it came on the market, it has been used off-label for other diseases and conditions such as Systemic Lupus and Papulopustular Rosacea. In 2018, a patent was filed to treat certain autoimmune disorders.”

 

Said Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Stacer: “The FDA, CDC, Fauci and Biden are deceiving the American people in support of Big Pharma. We need open and honest dialogue, not propaganda sponsored and directed by Big Pharma. The censorship and misinformation must end. ivermectin has been proven time and time again to be a viable option in the prevention and treatment of COVID-19.”

Don’t Be Evil

A Google employee program claims that America is a “system of white supremacy” and that all Americans are “raised to be racist.” Christopher F. Rufo writes:

Technology giant Google has launched an “antiracism” initiative that presents speakers and materials claiming that America is a “system of white supremacy” and that all Americans are “raised to be racist.”

I have obtained a trove of whistleblower documents from inside Google that reveal the company’s extensive racial-reeducation program, based on the core tenets of critical race theory—including “intersectionality,” “white privilege,” and “systemic racism.” In a foundational training module called “Allyship in Action,” Google’s head of systemic allyship Randy Reyes and a team of consultants from The Ladipo Group train employees to deconstruct their racial and sexual identities, and then rank themselves on a hierarchy of “power [and] privilege.” The trainers then instruct the employees to “manage [their] reactions to privilege”—which are likely to include feelings of “embarrassment, shame, fear, [and] anger”—through “body movement,” “deep breathing,” “accessing [their] ‘happy place,’” and “cry[ing].”

Democrats' New Plan to Restrict Your Gun Rights

President Joe Biden’s State Department announced new sanctions banning the importation of ammunition and firearms from Russia, a decision that comes in the midst of a large ammunition shortage that has forced U.S. retailers to depend on foreign suppliers to meet demand. Since 2019, ammunition imports have increased by about 225 percent.

President Biden and his elitist allies in woke banks and investment firms know that severe restrictions on Second Amendment rights aren’t possible given the current composition of the Supreme Court, thanks in large part to President Trump. So they are turning to other tactics instead, most of which aren’t being covered by the press, to get the job done. It’s working.

More HERE

Federal Court issues restraining order in New York medical workers' religious exemption case

NEW YORK - Chicago-based Thomas More Society, representing a group of New York medical workers, won a temporary restraining order against the new governor of New York on behalf of the non-profit legal group's clients Tuesday.

The United States District Court for the Northern District of New York granted a Temporary Restraining Order against the governor of New York and her administration at the request of a group of New York medical workers in Dr. A, et al. v. Kathy Hochul, et al. on September 14, 2021.

The seventeen health professionals, including doctors and nurses, are suing the state of New York for violating their Title VII and Constitutional rights with the Covid-19 vaccination mandate while disallowing religious exemptions.

Center Square: JCAR unanimously demands rule from ISBE over Pritzker’s mask mandate

(The Center Square) – Four public schools and nine private schools in Illinois have not complied with Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s mask mandate.

The public schools are on probation. The private schools’ recognition has been stripped.

A body of state lawmakers says the Illinois State Board of Education may be overstepping its authority by revoking recognition of schools, public and private, because of masking policies.

“There is a concern that policy outside of rule may exist and [Joint Committee on Administrative Rules] encourages ISBE to place all guidance and policy in rule,” the clerk for JCAR read during Tuesday hearing.

READ the rest of this important story on The Center Square - with a video of the JCAR hearing. 

Pritzker signs into law Green Energy bill

CHICAGO - A press release from Governor Pritzker’s office offers details of SB 2408, passed by the Illinois General Assembly earlier this week, which he signed into law Wednesday:  

Ensures Equity is Prioritized in Just Transition to Green Economy

CHICAGO – Delivering on principles previously laid out, Governor JB Pritzker signed landmark legislation into law that puts the state on a path toward 100% clean energy, invests in training a diverse workforce for the jobs of the future, institutes key ratepayer and residential customer protections, and prioritizes meaningful ethics and transparency reforms. Illinois is the first state in the Midwest to enact legislation to combat the climate crisis and build an economy for the future.

“We can’t outrun or hide from climate change – not to the north, where the Boundary Waters burn; not to the south, where Ida swallows lives and livelihoods in the blink of an eye,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “There is no time to lose. Thanks to the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, Illinois is taking action in the fight to stop and even reverse the damage that’s been done to our climate. As of today, Illinois is a force for good, for an environmental future we can be proud of. With economic growth and jobs woven into its fabric, this new law is the most significant step Illinois has taken in a generation toward a reliable, renewable, affordable and clean energy future in a generation.”

American Systems Mirror China's

Corporate Social Responsibility, ESG Scores, and China’s latest foray into totalitarianism via its recently introduced Social Credit System share significant commonality. Each system engenders the same erosion of individual liberty via the propagation of a singular “morality” unilaterally determined by an authoritarian overseer. That the governance structure surrounding the former is made up of economic elites operating from a relatively free society, while the latter is made up of high-ranking governmental officials in a significantly less free society, is immaterial.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is defined by Investopedia as “a self-regulating business model that helps a company be socially accountable -- to itself, its stakeholders, and the public… to engage in CSR means that, in the ordinary course of business, a company is operating in ways that enhance society and the environment.”

Environmental, Social, and Governance Scores (ESG) are defined as “a set of standards for a company’s operations that socially conscious investors use to screen potential investments.” ESG scores are most commonly used to assess investment risk; a high ESG score is theoretically supposed to indicate a low risk level. However, the score consists of a set of metrics that are highly subjective, and arbitrarily determined by a small group of elites rather than any sort of democratic process.

More HERE

The Case for Electric Vehicles Loses Its Charge

By Kenneth Green - 

I’m not a climate skeptic. As an environmental scientist/engineer by training, I think climate change is real. But it’s like every other environmental issue: a more-or-less routine engineering challenge, rather than a world-altering disaster justifying the fever-dreams of the radical greens.

Electric Vehicle Skeptic

I am, however, an electric vehicle skeptic. Or, more broadly, I’m skeptical that electric vehicles, adopted either voluntarily or via government mandates (increasingly the norm), will do much of anything to address the risk of climate change or to significantly reduce any other environmental problem that one might point out.

I’m solidly convinced that shifting away from the internal combustion of hydrocarbons to battery-stored electricity (generated from pretty much any source) will likely make environmental problems worse, not better.

Along the way, the push to force EVs onto the public will come with a bunch of social injustices that will only compound the environmental challenges society faces.

More HERE

Transforming America in 17 Days

Democrats rush to pass their cradle-to-grave entitlement agenda with little debate or scrutiny. The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board writes:

Congress is back in session, and don’t blink or you may miss the plan to transform America in 17 days. Never mind Sen. Joe Manchin’s “strategic pause.” Democratic leaders are moving to ram into law their $3.5 trillion plan for cradle-to-grave entitlements with the narrowest of majorities before Americans figure out what they’re doing. As Nancy Pelosi famously said about ObamaCare, Congress will pass the bill so people can find out what’s in it.

GOP Senators Rezin and Curran vote "yes" on energy bill

UPDATE: Yesterday, we mistakenly overlooked that not only Republican State Senator Sue Rezin, but also GOP State Senator John Curran of Lemont voted for HB 2408.

SPRINGFIELD - Needing 36 votes to pass the energy bill in the Illinois Senate, 35 36 Democrats voted "yes," but two one Republicans senators also voted "Yes": State Senator John Curran of Lemont, IL and State Senator Sue Rezin of Morris, Illinois ... 

Here's Senator Rezin's statement on her SB 2408 vote: 

Springfield, IL – On Sept. 13, Senate lawmakers returned to Springfield to vote on a comprehensive energy package that preserves the state’s nuclear fleet. State Senator Sue Rezin (R-Morris) issued the following statement after Senate Bill 2408 passed with a 37 to 17 vote:

“For over two years, we have spent countless hours fighting to preserve our state’s entire nuclear fleet. On the day that the Byron Generating Station was scheduled for decommission, we finally passed a bill that makes that a reality.

“While I don’t agree with everything that is included in Senate Bill 2408, it does keep our nuclear plants online, saves thousands of Illinois jobs, and puts our state on a realistic path to 100 percent clean, carbon-free energy.

“Without this bill, any hope of bringing a carbon-free energy future to Illinois by 2050 will be all but impossible and thousands of good-paying jobs would be lost throughout our state.”

Governor Pritzker says he will sign the measure into law. 

Pritzker says "science has prevailed" with passage of green energy bill

SPRINGFIELD — Governor JB Pritzker released the following statement on the Senate passage of the comprehensive energy package, Senate Bill 2408, that he says "puts consumers and the climate first", while the Illinois Chamber of Commerce says it will bring the largest electric rate hike in the state's history: 

“Today, with the Senate passage of SB 2408, the State of Illinois is making history by setting aggressive standards for a 100 percent clean energy future. After years of debate and discussion, science has prevailed, and we are charting a new future that works to mitigate the impacts of climate change here in Illinois.

“SB 2408 puts the state on a path toward 100% clean energy and invests in training a diverse workforce for the jobs of the future. Illinois will become the best state in the nation to manufacture and drive an electric vehicle, and equity will be prioritized in every new program created. SB2408 puts consumers and climate at the forefront, prioritizing meaningful ethics and transparency reforms, and institutes key ratepayer and residential customer protections.

IL Chamber of Commerce blasts energy proposal as "largest electricity rate hike in Illinois history"

UPDATE: SB 2408 passed the Illinois Senate Monday, and Governor Pritzker promised to sign it into law. 

SPRINGFIELD - The concern about the skyrocketing cost of energy the Democrats' "green new deal" will put into effect could devastate the state's already struggling economy, says the Illinois Chamber of Commerce. 

The group just issued the following dire warning to Illinois customers: 

As the Illinois Senate returns to Springfield today to take up a comprehensive energy proposal, the Illinois Chamber of Commerce urges legislators to oppose this flawed proposal that will dramatically increase costs and call reliability into question. Senate Bill 2408, introduced by House Democrats and passed just last week, includes extensive language that needs significant reworking. In addition, there are a number of provisions which the Chamber believes are extraordinarily troublesome. Those include:

Di Leo: The Global Supply Chain and the Bottleneck Archipelago

By John F. Di Leo - 

"Sorry, ma'am, we've been out for months. They're on order from Asia."

 

"Yes, sir, I know we're out of them. They've been shipped from Asia, sir; they're on their way... but it's taking forever.  No, sir, I don't know why."

 

Most retailers have had to make the above statement dozens of times each day for the past six to nine months.  Sadder still is that even American-made goods are also unavailable, because so many American-made products are dependent on components or raw materials from Asia.

 

Why?  Why on earth does international shipping take so long nowadays?

Thorner: Updating Biden's Vaccine Mandate

By Nancy Thorner - 

Taking a page right out of tyrant's playbook, President Joe Biden last week declared himself a medical dictator over America, claiming he alone has absolute power to bypass states' rights, nullify state governors and force the American people to take experimental "vaccines." 

As part of his dictatorial decree, Biden declared that he would remove governors from power if they don't comply with his vaccine mandates. In my opinion, his decree is an act of treason and war against the United States of America.

On Thursday, September 9, 2021, Biden declared that his patience with the 80 million Americans that haven’t gotten the COVID vaccine is wearing “thin,” whereupon Biden announced his most unconstitutional act of federal overreach to date. He is seeking to mandate large employers to vaccinate their employees, even though the federal government has no such authority to issue this mandate.

Left Doesn’t Just Want to Censor You on Social Media. It Also Wants to Close Your Bank Accounts.

(Photo: Pablo Monsalve/VIEWpress/Getty Images)

It is becoming increasingly clear that political leaders on the left and Big Tech are joining arms to not just de-platform dissident voices from social media, but to bar them from the digital space entirely, including from having the ability to make and receive payments online.

In the latest example, Chase Bank reportedly planned to close the credit card account of former national security adviser Michael Flynn on Sept. 18, stating that “continuing the relationship creates possible reputational risk to our company.” While as of Aug. 31, a Chase spokesperson said that they had “made an error and apologized for any inconvenience caused,” the initial gesture can’t be ignored.

This comes just a couple months after Wells Fargo made the “business decision” to close 2020 Republican Delaware Senate candidate Lauren Witzke’s account. Two of the more prominent digital payment services, PayPal and Stripe, have also become active cancel culture participants.

PayPal has admitted to closing accounts flagged by the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2019, now, PayPal has announced a partnership with the left-leaning Anti-Defamation League to focus on “further uncovering and disrupting the financial pipelines that support extremist and hate movements.”

In their joint statement, neither PayPal nor the Anti-Defamation League explicitly define what they mean by "extremist" and "hate movements," but it would be naïve to think that mainstream conservatives will escape the crosshairs of this new partnership.

More HERE

Moore: There Goes Grandma Over the Cliff

By Stephen Moore - 

Democrats have made a living in recent times with political attack ads fallaciously accusing Republicans of secret plans to destroy Medicare and Social Security. In one famous TV ad, then-House Speaker Paul Ryan was depicted as shoving an elderly woman in a wheelchair off a cliff. 

Well, Republicans may want to reprise that ad — and toss it back at Biden Democrats. New reports in recent days from the Congressional Budget Office and the Social Security trustees show both these programs running out of money much sooner than previously expected. 

Under current law, Medicare goes into the red in 2026, and then over the next 10 years, the losses mount to half a trillion dollars. Soon thereafter, the system is insolvent and flat out of money to pay the bills. Social Security’s finances are almost as rickety. The trust fund starts running out of money in 2034, and the losses eventually eclipse $1 trillion.

More HERE

Big Business Loves Big Government

Big Tech = Corporatism = Fascism.

One thing some on the Right REALLY need to get over in a hurry - is their knee-jerk defense of any business anywhere no matter what. 

Just because some amalgam of humanity has filed for a Corporation or LLC designation doesn’t mean they are always and forever good.

Never has this been more applicable and important than now.  Big Government has never before been bigger - or more for sale by the pound to Big Business.   

Some past Republicans have intimated at least some understanding of at least some aspects of this.

“You can’t be for big government, big taxes, and big bureaucracy and still be for the little guy.” 

-- Ronald Reagan

Left out of the Gipper’s list - is Big Business.  Like Big Government, Big Businesses take on gravitational pulls of their own.  They become sclerotic, bureaucratic messes - like Big Government. 

And Big Business - like every organism, including Big Government - will do any and everything to survive and thrive. No matter how corrupt it all may be.

More HERE

Texas Pushes Back on Big Tech Censorship

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed a bill finding that each Texan maintains a fundamental interest in the free exchange of ideas and information on social media platforms. Staffers for The Heartland Institute testified in the Lone Star State in recent weeks, and earlier in the year advocating for such free-speech protections – especially for conservatives and libertarians, who have been targets of “Big Tech” censorship by having their social media accounts suspended, canceled, or blocked.

The new law, HB 20, holds that social media platforms function as common carriers and will be required to publicly disclose information regarding their practices on content management – including the way the companies curate and targets content to users, moderate content, and use algorithms. The law stipulates that the same social media platforms shall provide an easily accessible complaint system that users can turn to if they have been censored or de-platformed. As an enforcement appliance, the law grants that the attorney general may bring an action against a social media platform in violation of the law.

More HERE

New GOP candidate tosses tech hat in the governor's race

PETERSBURG - While no one is yet officially on the 2022 GOP Gubernatorial Primary ballot, another person joined the effort to challenge JB Pritzker's re-election next year: Silicon Valley entrepreneur Jesse Sullivan, who now lives with his wife and four children in Petersburg, Illinois.

Jesse Sullivan - a relative unknown in Illinois Republican politics - announced his entry with a stunning $11 Million warchest - all funds from outside Illinois: 

Sullivan's website describes him as thus: 

I am a fifth generation Illinoisan, who was born, raised, and now lives in Petersburg, a mile from where President Abraham Lincoln first entered politics. Lincoln has always filled my imagination as our nation’s greatest political example of moral leadership, and I am running for Governor because our state should be exceptional, but our politics are terrible – I want to make Illinois a “shining city on a hill” that Lincoln would be proud of.

He continues ...

US Reps Bost, Miller respond to Biden Admin's COVID mandate

SPRINGFIELD - Congressman Mike Bost (IL-12) responded to the Biden Administration's plan to mandate COVID shots for federal workers, contractors and private companies with 100+ employees:

Vaccines play a critical role in defeating COVID-19 and getting our communities back to normal. However, the decision to receive the vaccine is a personal one that should be made in consultation with a physician, not the federal government. President Biden’s mandate on private businesses is a complete overreach and abuse of his authority. Forcing private businesses to comply or be fined will only hurt their ability to hire and retain the employees they need as we work to rebuild from a year of economic shutdowns.

As did Congresswoman Mary Miller (IL-15) on Facebook: 

Illinois nears 80% rate with at least one COVID shot

Thursday, the Biden Administration began a federal effort to mandate the COVID shot as Delta variant cases increase nationwide.

Friday, the Illinois Department of Public Health reported on its website that nearly 80% of Illinoisans 18 years and older have received at least one dose of the COVID shot.

They report on September 10th the following percentages of shots administered in Illinois: 

Jindal calls for all Americans to reject Biden's abuse of government power

DC - Friday, Center for a Healthy America Chairman Bobby Jindal (former governor of Louisiana) issued a stinging rebuke of the Biden Administration's vaccine mandate issued during a speech Thursday afternoon.

“President Biden announced he would use the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to compel private companies to require their employees to be vaccinated. He did so without approval from Congress and without regard for state laws. Just because the media refuse to hold Biden accountable, he is not a king; there are limits on his powers," Jindal said. 

Jindal said it is ironic that the same liberals that say it would be racist to require voters to show an ID to vote now insist Americans must display their vaccine status to keep their jobs, enter a restaurant, or go to the gym.

Illinois not among states promising to challenge Biden's vaccine mandates

AP News photo

CHICAGO - More than a dozen governors and two attorneys general late on Sept. 9 issued statements defying the Biden administration’s impending vaccine mandates for federal workers and private-sector workers, but Illinois is not among them, Epoch Times reports. 

However, the Daily Herald is reporting Gov. Pritzker said Thursday he's not ready to take that same step yet.

"At the moment I don't have a plan for us to do that, but I do think everyone should get vaccinated," Pritzker said at an event in Chicago.

Among those promising to challenge Biden's vaccine mandates are the governors of Arizona, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Wyoming.

Stossel: Mandate Vaccine?

By John Stossel - 

Politicians love force.

The idea of leaving us alone to make our own decisions goes against their nature.

To be sure, civilized society sometimes needs government force: police to punish killers, soldiers to protect us from foreign invaders, environmental police to stop my smoke from flowing to your lungs …

But the political class always goes too far.

More HERE

Elite Class Weaponized COVID-19 to Transform America

The nation will recover from COVID-19, but it may never get over the wreckage left behind by the federal healthcare bureaucracy’s handling of the coronavirus, according to a new analysis.

Inept as the response was, it served the interests of the public-health establishment and others who stood to gain from its policies.

“What many Americans were led to believe was well-intentioned concern for our safety and health has turned into a morass of ever-changing rules designed not for our health, but to accustom us to government control of our lives,” wrote Marilyn M. Singleton, M.D., J.D. in “COVID-19: A Weapon to Fundamentally Transform America.” Her article appears in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons (Summer 2021). Singleton is an anesthesiologist residing in California.

More HERE

Surge in Anti-Semitism Linked to Spread of Critical Race Theory

(Photo: Tobias Schwarz/AFP/ Getty Images)

There’s a strong connection between critical social justice ideology, including critical race theory, and a rising tide of anti-Semitism around the globe, according to a new report from the Jewish Institute for Liberal Values.

As more businesses and governments adopt initiatives based on critical social justice ideology, antisemitic and other forms of bigotry are flourishing.

“When you hold an ideology that there are really only two kinds of people in the world, those that are oppressed and those that are oppressors, you’re going to end up empowering ideas of anti-Semitism,” says David Bernstein, a longtime Jewish advocate as well as the founder and CEO of the Gaithersburg, Maryland-based Jewish Institute for Liberal Values.

More HERE

Black Chicago scholar points to Critical Race Theory as "Doctrine of Demons"

Eric Wallace, PhD

CHICAGO -- A Black scholar and ministry leader from the Chicago area, with links to civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King, has slammed the controversial critical race theory as "a doctrine of demons."

Freedom's Journal Institute Founder and President Dr. Eric Wallace -- the first African American to earn a Ph.D. in Biblical studies from Union-PSCE (Now Union Presbyterian Seminary) -- discussed the "evils" of critical race theory (CRT) and its origins at a conference in Virginia in late August.

Critical race theory proponents claim the United States was founded on racism and is systemically racist -- painting White people and White Christians as oppressors, and people of color as the oppressed.

CRT is being introduced in churches, public schools and colleges across the nation.

Malkin: Ivermectin: Horse Hockey Versus Truth

By Michelle Malkin - 

Shhhhh. The information I’m about to share with you is dangerous and subversive. You cannot publish it on social media platforms without risking scary labels and permanent suspensions. You and anyone you discuss this topic with will be called anti-science “kooks,” “conspiracy theorists” or “quacks.”

So be it. I’ve been called every pejorative name in the globalist elites’ overworn handbook of ad hominem attacks over the past 30 years. Who cares?

The airwaves have been littered the past month with disparaging reports about ivermectin, which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warns should not be used to treat or prevent COVID-19. “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it,” the official FDA Twitter account snidely admonished last week.

More HERE

The Squad urges Biden to ‘reimagine’ the Federal Reserve

(AP Photo/Steve Ruark)

In 2020, the Squad said we must “reimagine the police,” which coincided with a vast increase in city crime throughout the country.

In 2021, they have moved on, claiming it is time to “reimagine” the Federal Reserve, which would more than likely cause chaos throughout the U.S. economy.

On August 31, Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Mondaire Jones (D-NY), and Jesús G. “Chuy” García (D-IL) released a statement urging President Biden to “re-imagine a Federal Reserve focused on eliminating climate risk and advancing racial and economic justice.”

More HERE

Di Leo: Adam Kinzinger, a Stranger in our House

By John F. Di Leo - 

US Rep Adam Kinzinger of Rockford, IL has again grabbed some undeserved attention, this time by throwing the Republican Party under the bus, going on national television to attack GOP efforts to put an end to Democratic election fraud. The Kinzinger quote with which the Left is having the most fun is "I think if we're going to be in charge and pushing conspiracy and pushing division and pushing lies, then the Republican Party should not have the majority."

Now it’s easy to dismiss this as just “Kinzinger being Kinzinger.”  He likes being this generation’s version of Jim Jeffords or Arlen Spector, a gadfly who runs as a Republican but publicly badmouths his own party while hardly ever calling out the Democrats, likely because he wants to be welcomed if he ever needs to change parties.

But his argument requires deeper consideration, because it’s at the root of two key crises of identity in the current Republican soul.

Thorner: The Biden Presidency, A Tragedy

By Nancy Thorner - 

After the Labor Day holiday, it is time to reflect on the first seven months of the Biden Presidency. Say what you want about the outcome of his short seven months plus a few days, but this is in stark contrast to the Trump time in office. Biden's term is nearly void of controversy.  There is almost universal agreement, although many will not comment publicly about the events, policies and executed orders Biden created.

The consensus is Biden's presidency has been a term of failure of epic proportions with serious consequences.

Let’s look at the body of work we have witnessed:

Beckman: The Day that changed everything

Seth McAllister/AP photo

By Hank Beckman - 

Twenty years ago this week I was having coffee in my living room and reading a grad school assignment when my best friend called and asked me if I thought it was Saddam or that asshole Bin Laden.

I had no idea what he was talking about; he just told me to turn on my television.

To say the sight of the World Trade Center Towers engulfed in flames and the repeated footage of two jet airliners crashing into what was the ultimate symbol of free enterprise and American exceptionalism was a jolt like no other news story in my life would be the understatement of this young century.

A person goes through a lot in a lifetime and some of it will shake us to our core and prompt serious reflection on the random quality of evil in the universe. But for sheer heart-pounding terror, nothing really rivals the sight of human beings voluntarily leaping to their deaths from 80 stories above the pavement to escape being burned alive.

IL CD 17 Republican Esther Joy King Announces 50+ Grassroots Endorsements

EAST MOLINE, IL –  The campaign for Esther Joy King released this week over 50 local endorsements from grassroots leaders in western-central Illinois along with a number of high profile conservative leaders from across the country who strongly believe King is the Battle-ready leader needed in Illinois and support her campaign to win the open IL-17 congressional seat. 

“Illinois deserves a leader who will fight for our values and what's good for our communities and not just rubber stamp Nancy Pelosi's far-left progressive agenda. We have a from-the-ground-up movement of positive energy to make our state better, and I welcome support from so many leaders locally and nationally who want to fight for our values together. It is an honor to have Leader Kevin McCarthy's support, and I look forward to making him Speaker McCarthy in 2023. This campaign started with people across central-Western Illinois and has grown because of the dozens and dozens of elected leaders here in the District who joined us early and believed in this campaign. Now our campaign is taking on momentum and growing stronger each day because our roots run deep.”

King’s announcement comes on the heels of raising over $400,000 in April, May and June which put her in the top five of all GOP challengers nationwide. Her campaign noted resources alone are not enough, this campaign is about people and hard work. Because of King’s strong commitment and personal connections across the district she is able to announce an unprecedented number of early grassroots endorsements.

Kaifesh Op-Ed: The Worst Part of Biden’s Afghanistan Debacle is not What, but Why

AP Photo

By Larry Kaifesh - 

The worst part of Biden’s Afghanistan debacle is not so much what he did; recklessly pull out of Afghanistan without any thoughtful planning, abandon Americans and allies leading to their deaths, allow countless tortuous murders by the Taliban, humiliate America and the military, and strip away any credibility as an ally around the globe, but why he did what he did.  Tony Bobulinsky, the businessman who set the deals up between Hunter Biden on behalf of the Biden Family and the Chinese, has the answer and said it best when he stated: 

“BIDEN IS COMPROMISED”

How America’s ‘creative class’ learned to love conformity

In 2000, columnist David Brooks wrote Bobos in Paradise, hailing the dawn of a new phase in America’s longstanding story of meritocracy. The “bobos” were a peculiar breed — part bohemian, part bourgeoisie — blurring class divides in a way that would introduce a new form of enlightened, activist citizenship in a country with an otherwise ambivalent middle class.

“The bobos didn’t necessarily come from money, and they were proud of that; they’d secured their places in selective universities and in the job market through drive and intelligence exhibited from an early age,” writes Brooks in a retrospective essay at The Atlantic. “… X types defined themselves as rebels against the staid elite. They were – as the classic Apple commercial had it – ‘the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers.’”

It’s the same group that researcher Richard Florida famously called the “the creative class” – educated upstarts who could spin magic and mystery from their ideas and initiatives, transforming enterprises and institutions across whatever cities and streets they touched.

More HERE

Parker: Corporate Social Justice Programs Don’t Work

By Star Parker - 

According to a new report from The Washington Post, America’s corporations have committed “at least” $49.5 billion to the cause of “racial justice” since the George Floyd murder last year riveted our national attention on race.

This amounts to a little over $1,100 for every Black man, woman and child in America.

Or, from another perspective, about $16,500 for every Black household earning $25,000 or less.

But we’re not talking about corporate America, despite their deep concern for racial justice, just simply giving black Americans cash. As much as they undoubtedly care about these Black citizens, they would never trust them to just take the money and spend properly.

More HERE

Why Isn’t Biden to Blame for COVID-19 Deaths?

(Photo: Jim Watson/Getty Images)

One of the most morally revolting talking points taken up by Democrats in their effort to deflect attention from President Joe Biden’s deadly incompetence in Afghanistan is to minimize the deaths of 13 troops in Kabul, Afghanistan, by pointing out that more people are dying from COVID-19 every day.

First of all, if we use the standards that Democrats set during the Trump years, those COVID-19 deaths are also the responsibility of Biden.

More HERE

As of Friday, 81 Illinois schools contend with COVID outbreaks, 4169 spared thus far

WMAD photo

SPRINGFIELD - News reports are showing an increase in COVID-19 outbreaks in Illinois schools being up to 81 as of Friday, but little attention is given to the 4169 schools throughout the state that are functioning as planned. 

The schools reporting outbreaks are listed on the Illinois State Board of Education website: https://www.dph.illinois.gov/covid19/school-aged-metrics?countyName=Illinois 

While nearly 60 school districts stated they would defy Governor Pritzker's mask mandate, many have changed course and chosen to follow the Governor's plan in order to be listed as a "recognized" school district and not endanger losing their state funding. 

Christian Liberty Academy in Arlington Heights, IL lost its state recognition this week when they made their mask policy optional for students. 

Thorner: This Nation's Expanding Dependence State

New York Magazine photo

By Nancy Thorner - 

The dependence state is available to able-bodied people residing in the USA, even those that opt not to work.  The US government destroys people's lives by giving then free money to make them dependent and unable to provide for themselves.

Quote from Thomas Sowell: “No society ever thrived because it had a large and growing class of parasites living off those who produce.”

Quote from Walter E. Williams, Phd.: “How does something immoral, when done privately, become moral when it is done collectively? Furthermore, does legality establish morality? Slavery was legal; apartheid is legal; Stalinist, Nazi, and Maoist purges were legal. Clearly, the fact of legality does not justify these crimes. Legality, alone, cannot be the talisman of moral people.”

 

Grace Community Church wins $800,000 in legal fees

SUN VALLEY CA -  The State of California and County of Los Angeles will pay $800,000 in “prevailing party” attorneys’ fees to California Pastor John MacArthur and the Grace Community Church.  The award is to compensate the pastor and church's legal expenses after state and federal courts in California issued permanent injunctions prohibiting the State of California or any of its agencies from ever again imposing discriminatory restrictions on all houses of worship.

The church and pastor were represented by Thomas More Society Special Counsel Jenna Ellis and Thomas More Society Special Counsel Charles LiMandri, partner at LiMandri & Jonna LLP. The lengthy legal battle began when California attempted to close houses of worship in March 2020, in a hasty and sweeping response to fears about the potential spread of COVID-19.

Rep. Neimerg on House floor: Rein in this tyrannical governor!

DIETERICH, IL - Nearly 60 school districts have been placed on probation or have been listed as no longer being recognized by the Illinois State Board of Education for not complying with the Governor’s mask mandate, prompting State Rep. Adam Niemerg (R-Dieterich) to urge the legislature to intervene and provide a more sensible approach.

In a speech on the House floor this week, Niemerg called out the Illinois Department of Health and the Illinois State Board of Education for not answering his questions and providing data to support their claims about universal mask mandates. According to recently released data, the hospitalization rates for K-12 students is .004 percent.

“Why are we doing this?” Niemerg said. “You look at other nations around the world like Great Britain, they are not requiring universal masking at schools. There is no need to put kids through another year of forced masking. IDPH knows it. Parents know it. School districts know it. This is about exercising power, not about public health.”

Federal Funding for Extended Benefits Ending September 11

Remaining Federal Unemployment Programs, PUA, FPUC, PEUC Ending September 4

SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) today announced federal funding under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) for extended benefits (EB) will end the week ending September 11, 2021.  The remaining federal unemployment programs, including Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC), and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC), will expire on September 4, 2021.

The Illinois Unemployment Insurance (UI) Act requires federal funding for extended benefits to currently remain active.  According to the United States Department of Labor’s interpretation of Section 9022 of ARPA, federal funding for EB will end on September 11.  Because the federal government will no longer cover the cost of EB after this date, EB will expire and no longer be available to claimants in Illinois.

Claimants in need of further state resources or assistance are encouraged to visit IDES.Illinois.gov/MoreAssistance for information about helpful programs.  Claimants with questions about existing claims should call 800.244.5631 and schedule a callback.

Latest Alleged Election Fraud in California May Have Changed 2020 Election Outcome

California has a lot of work to do if it wants to improve its administration of elections. Hans von Spakovsky writes:

The U.S. Supreme Court said in 2008, when it upheld Indiana’s voter ID law, that “not only is the risk of voter fraud real but that it could affect the outcome of a close election.”

It seems we have a perfect example of this in Compton, California, where felony voter fraud charges have been filed against six defendants, including a member of the Compton City Council, Isaac Galvan, by the Los Angeles County district attorney.

Anarchy in Portland

ALEX MILAN TRACY/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Political leaders yawn as left and right battle with guns in the streets. The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board writes:

Cities that tolerate political violence invite more of it. Portland, Ore., has failed to learn this lesson, and it’s a miracle no one was killed amid recent clashes. On Sunday Antifa adherents squared off against demonstrators affiliated with the far right Proud Boys. Bloody confrontations have become routine in Portland, but this one was even more harrowing than usual. Social-media video appears to show participants exchanging gunfire, and Police Chief Chuck Lovell said one person was apprehended for firing a weapon.

Pritzker's "heart hurts" for Texas protecting pre-born babies with heartbeats

CHICAGO - Illinois' Governor Pritzker's "heart hurts" for the pre-born babies in Texas whose lives have been protected by a ban on abortion after a heartbeat is detected. 

Pritzker is proud that Illinois is the most pro-abortion state in the Midwest, he wrote on a Facebook page Wednesday. 

The US Supreme Court upheld Texas' ban on aborting babies with a detectable heartbeat by failing to stop a last minute appeal to stop the ban. 

52% of Voters Think Biden Should Resign Over Afghanistan Withdrawal

The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan was so badly handled that President Joe Biden should resign because of it, according to a majority of voters. However, most don’t think Vice President Kamala Harris is qualified to replace Biden if he leaves office.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 52% of Likely U.S. Voters believe Biden should resign because of the way the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan was handled. Thirty-nine percent (39%) disagree, and nine percent (9%) are not sure.

Thorner: Biden's Fake Victory Lap

By Nancy Thorner - 

Yesterday, Tuesday, August 31, 2021, after showing up more than an hour late, President Biden touted his “successful” exit from Afghanistan, priding himself on how he was able to get “90%” of Americans out of Afghanistan who chose to come home.

In his remarks Biden, maybe because he was trying to convince himself, yelled at Americans who have a right to be upset with his catastrophic exit from Afghanistan. 

Biden’s Victory Lap was as predictable as it is astonishing. Only such a man as Joe Biden with the unearned, but raging arrogance, undeserved display of confidence, stunning indifference to the fate of Americans and Allies callously abandoned through his indescribable incompetence, could prattle on claiming ‘Success.’

A shameless Biden used a symbolic date certain, 9/11, as the crowning moment to declare the end of endless wars in Afghanistan, as vindication for the tragedies and unforced errors of the past few weeks.

Center Square: New bill would give ISBE authority to punish schools that don't follow COVID rules

(The Center Square) – Nearly 60 schools have been put on probation or listed as not recognized by the Illinois State Board of Education for failing to follow a statewide mask mandate for schools.

Some locally elected school boards have since complied, but a parents’ rights group says it is government overreach.

This comes as a measure filed at the statehouse would give ISBE the ability to revoke a school’s recognition status for not following COVID-19 rules signals to some that the governor and ISBE don't yet have that authority.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker ordered all schools to mandate masks after many local school boards made masking optional.

He’s been adamant ISBE will punish schools that don’t comply. Pritzker says the move is meant to slow the spread of COVID-19 and its variants.

Publicly listed through the ISBE website, 59 schools didn’t comply and were placed on probation or listed as not recognized, potentially threatening state funding for those schools. If they comply, the state can restore recognition.

As of Friday, 40 schools were listed as still on probation or not recognized.

Read the rest HERE 

Liberty Counsel: FDA Does a Bait and Switch with COVID Shots

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has done a bait and switch by announcing it approved its “first COVID-19 vaccine” in order to push the “vaccine” mandates and protect the Pfizer pharmaceutical company from legal liability. However, there is currently no fully licensed COVID shot on the United States market.

Albeit confusing, and probably intentionally so, this summarizes the current status of the Pfizer-BioNTech shots:

1. All existing Pfizer vials (in the hundreds of millions), remain under the federal Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) (meaning people have the “option to accept or refuse”);
2. The third or “booster” Pfizer shot is identical to the above and remains under the EUA with limited use to certain categories of people;
3. BioNTech received FDA approval for people ages 16 and above under the name Comirnaty, but there are no Comirnaty doses available in the United States;
4. In other words, there is currently NO FDA approved COVID-19 injection available anywhere in the United States. Every COVID shot in America remains under the EUA law and thus people have the “option to accept or refuse” them; and
5. Even when an FDA approved COVID shot becomes available, individuals are protected by federal law and many states laws from being forced to get these shots based on their sincere religious beliefs or conscience rights.

On August 23, the FDA issued two separate letters for two separate injections. There are now two legally distinct (Pfizer vs. BioNTech), but otherwise identical products.

Democrats Use Banks to Push Their Agenda

A new bill offered by Democrats in the House of Representatives would provide disincentives for banks to provide loans to, support bond offerings of, and provide other routine financial services to fossil fuel companies.

The “Climate Crisis Financial Stability Act’ (CCFSA) was introduced by Democratic members of House Financial Services subcommittee at a hearing of the subcommittee in July.

The bill would amend the Financial Stability Act of 2010 by requiring federal banking regulators to consider climate change when they calculate the amount of money lenders must hold in reserve to shield themselves from unanticipated losses related to climate change.

More HERE