Illinois Review

IL officials caution residents about serious weather threats over Memorial Day weekend

SPRINGFIELD – It's May and it's been an especially stormy and wet spring in Illinois - one that appears to be continuing that trend over the Memorial Day weekend - and Illinois officials sent out a caution Friday morning to residents and visitors.

As families set out to enjoy a long holiday weekend, state officials are urging residents to monitor local weather forecasts and always have multiple ways to receive emergency alerts and warnings. Officials with the National Weather Service (NWS) report additional storms are possible through the Memorial day weekend.

Thorner: 5G, an Innovation or Serious Health Risk?

By Nancy Thorner - 

Telecommunications companies are actively deploying the fifth-generation wireless network (5G). The telecoms pushing 5G see only the estimated $12-trillion monetary return the 5G wireless network is expected to bring.  What is not widely acknowledged is that 5G will also result in unprecedented health risks and environmental change on a global scale.

The blast has begun.  SpaceX made history on May 23, 2019, when a two-stage Falcon 9 rocket from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carried the first 60 satellites in SpaceX's Starlink internet constellation for 5G from space.

Rahm Emanuel Is Now A Contributing Editor For The Atlantic

Rahm Emanuel has only been out of office a few days but he’s already back in the spotlight.

He finished his tenure as one of Chicago’s worst mayors ever just 48 hours ago, being involved in multiple corruption scandals and presiding over murder rates comparable to war zones. In the real world, that would earn Emanuel a trip to a quiet retirement and professional scorn. But Democrats don’t live in the real world.

Instead, Emanuel was just hired to be a contributing editor for The Atlantic.

This is what's wrong with the press.

More HERE

Why Don't You Support Israel?

Israel is one of the most free and most prosperous countries in the world. Not only is Israel a booming economy and a wellspring of innovation, it is the only democracy in the Middle East. So why is it so controversial to support the Jewish state? Stephen Harper, the 22nd Prime Minister of Canada, lays out several fundamental truths about America’s most critical ally.

What If The Administrative State Cannot Be Reformed?

Reform the administrative state or tear it down? Thoughts from Clyde Wayne Crews:

For the past couple of years I’ve been emphasizing the usefulness of an executive order from President Donald Trump on regulatory “guidance documents” to bridge the gap between the president's initial flurry of regulatory reform activity, and some hypothetical future congressional configuration that would make further permanent action on regulatory or administrative state streamlining possible. [...]

Discipline = Freedom

In this year’s 2019 PragerU Commencement Address, Navy Seal (Ret.) and best-selling author, Jocko Willink, offers some hard-learned, practical advice. It all starts with Discipline. That’s what will get you on the road to personal fulfillment and success – and keep you there. Watch and find out why.

Aside graduated tax proposal, Illinois Dems consider at least 10 fee and tax hikes

SPRINGFIELD - Maybe you, like everyone else, are focused on the vote expected soon on the state constitutional amendment to remove Illinois' flat income tax rate.

But while the focus for many is elsewhere, there's a whole list of new and hiked taxes looming in the Illinois General Assembly, State Rep. Allen Skillicorn and other GOP lawmakers said Wednesday at the Capitol.

Passionate about Planned Parenthood? The Sun-Times and Tribune are

CHICAGO - Tuesday, the Chicago Sun-Times' editorial board and the Chicago Tribune's popular columnist Eric Zorn both encouraged the Illinois General Assembly to expand abortion rights in Illinois. The state's top abortion provider is Planned Parenthood. 

Illinois Democrats consider revamping state's FOID card law

SPRINGFIELD - During the final two weeks of scheduled session, Illinois Democrats, which control the Illinois General Assembly and the Governor's Mansion, are working through the details of legislation that could tighten the state's already very tight gun control laws.

Gun control groups like "Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America,"  part of Everytown for Gun Safety, founded by former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, gathered at the Statehouse Wednesday. They urged Democrats to pass the "Fix the FOID Act," by "closing loopholes in state law that make it possible for people prohibited from having firearms to easily access them nonetheless."

Springfield billboard defends rainbow as God's

SPRINGFIELD - A billboard in Illinois' capitol city of Springfield reminds viewers the origination of the rainbow as a Scriptural one, related to God's promises - a stark contrast to the symbolism of the rainbow in contemporary society. 

Illinois is moving progressively towards embracing the LGBTQ policy agenda - with the state's first openly-gay House Majority Leader and Chicago with its first openly-gay mayor.

The billboard, located along Springfield's South Grand Avenue, appeared just days before the city's annual Gay Pride Parade on May 15th. The billboard's artwork says "The Rainbow Belongs to God. It's a Sign of His Promise" and refers to Genesis 9:13-15 and 2nd Peter 3:3-7.

Di Leo: Seven things commencement speakers should consider

By John F. Di Leo - 

Pearls of wisdom for the speechmakers of graduation season, 2019…

Congratulations, Commencement Speakers! Today is your day!

After a lifetime of devotion to your respective careers – as journalists, entrepreneurs, inventors, CEOs, ward heelers, or rent seekers – you have finally reached that pinnacle of achievement reserved for only 4600 people each year:  you have been selected to give a commencement speech at one of America’s institutions of higher learning.

You have finally made it.

As you feverishly scribble your notes over the days to come, preparing for that moment of success, that twenty or thirty, or Heaven forbid, forty-minute long opportunity to bask in the attention of a happy crowd on a sunny Saturday, there are a few things you should keep in mind.  Perhaps you’ve heard of them:

Rossi: The Growing Threat of Socialism in America

By Randy Rossi - 

Gallup just released a new poll that should scare the heck out of every rational and informed American. That poll shows that a growing number of Americans are embracing socialism.

In their new poll, Gallup reports that 43% of all Americans embrace some form of socialism while only 51% of Americans think that socialism would be a bad thing for our country. Incredibly, 6% have no opinion. If that doesn’t scare any rational American who has watched Venezuela collapse under socialism, what would?

Pritzker's graduated tax amendment could pass Illinois House Thursday

SPRINGFIELD - Gov JB Pritzker has been pushing to eliminate Illinois' flat rate income tax - an effort that will demand changing the state's constitution. Reports are that the measure Pritzker calls "Fair Tax"  has the needed 71 votes lined up to pass the House. The measure passed the Illinois Senate earlier this session.

Thorner/O'Neil: American citizens must come first

By Nancy Thorner & Bonnie O'Neil - 

Americans are facing problems new to this era with challenges both from outside and within. Our forefathers would have deemed many of the current changes as irrational and perhaps even crazy. It is possible that a substantial number of Americans hold similar views; however, the loudest and strongest voices are the ones most listened to (the “squeaky wheel”), even if the substance of their words and arguments are detrimental to this nation's sovereignty.

The Swedish Lesson: Welfare States Create Moral Hazard

The welfare state erodes responsibility. Nima Samandaji writes:

The World Value Survey gives strong support for the claim that norms in the Nordic countries have eroded. In the 1981–84 survey, for example, 82 percent of Swedes agreed with the statement “Claiming government benefits to which you are not entitled is never justifiable.” In the 2010–14 wave, merely 55 percent held the same view. The pattern is found in the other Nordic nations as well. This fall in responsibility seems to be stabilizing lately, following tax cuts and significant reductions in welfare-state generosity.

Are You Going to Get Your Social Security Benefits?

The Social Security “trust fund” will run out of money by 2035. So, how much of the money that you have paid in Social Security taxes (and remember we all do) will you actually see later in life? Or if you are already receiving benefits, how much do you stand to lose?

Trump Takes a Promising First Step to Resolving Our Balkanization Crisis

Patriotic assimilation requires more than just an immigration policy. Mike Gonzalez writes:

Nobody in his right mind immigrates anywhere in the hope of becoming an aggrieved, “marginalized” victim. Our grievance studies professors may have laid the foundation of a victimhood culture in America, but in most of the rest of the world, being a victim is a degraded status.

The problem is that once they come in, having passed a civics test or not, immigrants (and the native born as well) would still come under pressure to respond to the incentives to balkanize that our system currently continuously provides.

Chicago makes history with first openly-gay mayor and unprecedented budget deficits

Chicago's new mayor Lori Lightfoot|Chicago Reader photo

CHICAGO - Chicago will welcome its first black, female and openly-gay mayor into office Monday.

Lori Lightfoot and her wife Amy Ashleman will welcome visitors to Lightfoot new office Monday afternoon - a furniture move that will have been provided by an all-women moving crew, Lightfoot's office said.

Employers' liability for IL employee toxic substance exposure now longer than 25 years

SPRINGFIELD - The Illinois Trial lawyers won another victory last week when Governor Pritzker signed into law a bill that expands the state's workers' compensation program - making an already-dreaded liability monster even bigger and more powerful. Pritzker signed SB 1596, lengthening the time for which Illinois employers will be responsible for employees' medical conditions connected with toxic substance exposure.  
 
The new law lifts the 25-year statute of limitation on claims for people diagnosed with latent diseases after exposure to toxic substances (such as asbestos, radiation, beryllium) in the workplace. And that's a good thing, the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association says.

3 Groups of People Disproportionately Harmed by Minimum Wage Laws

Minimum wage laws hurt minorities. Bill Wirtz writes:

Prior to the Fair Labors Standards Act (FLSA), which instituted the first federal minimum wage of 25 cents per hour, the black-white unemployment gap did not exceed 1 percent. Today, the black unemployment rate is twice that of whites. Raising [the minimum wage], as is suggested by multiple Democratic presidential candidates, would only accelerate this phenomenon.