Illinois Review

Di Leo: Closing the Book on Mueller Investigation, Writing Chapters to Come

By John F. Di Leo -

After over two years, the dust is finally settling on the Mueller investigation.  The report is out, and it clearly shows what all but the uninformed and the most partisan leftists knew all along: Not only was the allegation of Trump-Russia collusion poppycock from the beginning, but more importantly, the very investigation was unfounded, a hit job that its instigators planned as a sort of internal coup, designed to either take down the administration through a framed impeachment or to utterly hamstring the Trump-Pence administration and reduce its effectiveness.

There is much yet to be done, and it is clear that William Barr was the right man for the job of Attorney General at this point.  We need to investigate the investigators – to determine exactly who, and how many, were responsible for turning the federal bureaucracy into a political weapon.  Some have acted more like the secret police of the communist world, or like the dirty cops who sometimes plant evidence and convict the innocent in our own cities, shaming an otherwise honorable profession with their tyranny.

Illinois' LaHood and Bost respond to Mueller Report

WASHINGTON - Two of Illinois' 17 Congress members released statements Thursday in response to the Mueller Report on a 22 month long investigation concerning the Russians' alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election. 

Congressman Darin LaHood (IL-17) said it's time the Democrats put aside animosity towards President Trump.

“I am pleased to see the release of Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller’s report, which confirms what many of us believed and what was outlined in the Attorney General’s memo: there was no collusion between President Trump, his campaign and the Russians. This is a vindication of President Trump on the issue of Russian collusion,” said LaHood.

Rossi: Time to use our most powerful tools to protect our Republic

By Randy Rossi -

Rasmussen Reports did a poll in June 2018 that showed that roughly one third of Americans believe that we are in our 2^nd Civil War and it will get violent in 5 years. That war is between conservative patriots that support our Constitution, Bill of Rights, Electoral College, and our fundamental American values that made America the most powerful and prosperous nation in the history of the world and those liberals that are attacking all of those American institutions and values to impose socialism and government control on “We the people."

We are indeed at a critical point in our history and we must remember what John Adams warned us of, “There has not been a democracy yet that hasn’t committed suicide”. Over the last 2,600 years the average life of a democracy is just 200 years. If we allow these liberal Democrats to destroy our core institutions and values, they will destroy the world’s oldest continuous democracy. After all, a Gallup poll in August 2018 reported that while 57% of Democrats view socialism favorably, only 47% of Democrats view capitalism favorably! That is our new battleground. Socialism is government control, not freedom!

So my fellow patriots, how can we peacefully win this “2^nd civil war”?  Simple, by using our most powerful nonviolent tools; our money, knowledge, and voting power.

Berg: Polls show voters aren't buying what Pritzker is selling

By Austin Berg, Illinois Policy Institute - 

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s prized constitutional amendment is moving in Springfield, but new polling shows why Illinois House members should stop it.

The Senate Executive Committee on April 10 passed Senate Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 1 – which would eliminate Illinois’ flat tax protection, allow lawmakers to pass new types of income taxes and open the door for the nation’s highest corporate income tax.

But likely voters in House districts held by Democrats aren’t buying what Pritzker is selling.

The Only Solution to Climate Change? Pre-Emptive War with China, India, and Russia

According to Democratic rhetoric, the world will come to an end relatively soon if we do not stop climate change. The only option must then be to go to war with the heaviest polluters, namely China, Russia, and India.

More HERE

Educrats vs. students: the Milwaukee showdown

"Power to the education establishment!" — it could become the rallying cry for Democrats during their 2020 presidential nominating convention in Milwaukee.

"Power to local parents and taxpayers" — well, not so much.

In hawking a proposal to use federal power to give public school teachers a hefty pay raise (more than $13,000) over the next four years, U.S. senator Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) is catering to a massive group of voters.  Apparently, Harris is trying to buy delegates.

More HERE

Do You Have a Right to Repair? Yes and No

There is a growing legislative movement – yes, elected politicians are always looking for something to do – to create and enforce a “right to repair” your stuff. It applies to cars and trucks but the newest candidate for inclusion concerns your electronic gadgets.

You have probably had experience with the problem. Your iPhone breaks and you are looking for someone to fix it. But then you become aware of a problem. If you take it to a street vendor or some other random repair person, your device falls out of warranty. That’s dangerous because if the repair fails, you have a paperweight instead of a phone.

Pro-Market Legislation?

Public Schools Love Leftist Indoctrination

One of the criticisms teachers unions and other government-schooling factotums level against private schools that accept voucher students is that in many cases they hire teachers who are not state-certified or licensed. In truth, that is one of the great strengths of independent schools. They can employ teachers who have not had to undergo the left-wing indoctrination that is all too common in the state certification mills known as “schools of education.”

Ed-schools long have been the butt of jokes for their low standards and insipid instruction about arcane education theory. They have earned that derision. However, the more substantive criticism is the extent to which many of the leading ed-schools seek to instill a collectivist mindset in the idealistic young people who enroll simply because of their wish to be excellent teachers of K–12 students.

More HERE

Cartoon comparing abortion and slavery: 'hate speech'

The founder of the popular Christian satire site Babylon Bee recently had a post to Instagram comparing abortion to slavery removed by the social media website over claims that it was “hate speech.”

Adam Ford, who sold the Babylon Bee website last year, posted an entry on his Christian Daily Reporter site on Wednesday, explaining that he recently learned that a comic he posted to Instagram last month was taken down.

“Instagram yanked it as ‘hate speech,’” wrote Ford, who included a screengrab of the message he received regarding the post.

More HERE

Beckman: Trump goes "Full Alinksy" on border crisis

By Hank Beckman -

Somewhere, most likely in a place in dire need of air conditioning and one gigantic sprinkler system, Saul Alinsky must be smiling ruefully.

He certainly wouldn’t approve of the policies of Donald John Trump, but he would have to have a grudging admiration for how well the former real estate developer and reality show host recently utilized the radical Chicago organizer’s own fourth rule of tactics: Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules.

In Rules for Radicals, Alinsky’s seminal 1971 book that became a primer for radical leftists everywhere—published around the same time he was mentoring a young Hillary Rodham—he reasoned that no enemy could live up to its own standards, any more than “the Christian church can live up to Christianity.”

Thorner: Beware state lawmakers pushing legalized pot

By Nancy Thorner - 

Public town hall events are currently being held throughout Illinois with one purpose: to advance legalizing recreational marijuana use for adults.

The Highland Park Library, hosted by the City of Highland Park, sponsored a town hall discussion Saturday, April 13, from 10-11:30 a.m. In the announcement blurb, individuals of all viewpoints were encouraged to attend to ask questions and learn all about the proposed cannabis legislation. About 100 attended. 

The panel included Representative Bob Morgan (D - 58th District); Senator Julie Morrison (D - 29th District); and State Senator Heather Steans (D-Chicago), sponsor of Senate Bill 7.  It has been two years since the Steans/Cassidy bill legalizing recreational pot was first introduced in Illinois.

Following brief introductions by Representative Bob Morgan and Senator Julie Morrison, Senator Heather Steans gave a Power Point presentation on Cannabis Legalization, designed to convince those in attendance that Illinois knows what it is doing, and that its recreational marijuana program will be well designed for positive results.  As Steans suggested, in some states legalization of recreational marijuana was achieved by referendum.  Doing it legislatively in Illinois is the better way, she said, as it will reflect the feedback received over the past twenty-four months.

Rossi: Bad News Dems, Americans Don’t Like Reparations!

By Randy Rossi - 

In my life time, I have never seen anything more disgusting and insulting than to see most Democrat candidates for president embrace the horrific idea of reparations for slavery just to buy black votes. Al Sharpton asked many Democrat candidates on stage if they would support reparations if elected, and all present said yes obviously to get the black votes that Sharpton influences. The good news for America is that a new Rasmussen poll reports that 66% of Americans oppose the idea of reparations. That’s really bad news for Dems because apparently most Americans see reparations as the sham it is designed to buy black votes with our tax dollars and it will be fun to watch Trump eviscerate whoever wins the Democrat primary for endorsing reparations to buy votes.

But according to that same Rasmussen poll, 21% of Americans do support the idea of reparations and 13% are undecided. Did they flunk their high school history courses that taught them that 600,000 Americans died and 1.2 million were wounded in the Civil War over 154 years ago to free the slaves? That is enough reparations! Or don’t they know that all the Northern states had already made slavery illegal before the Civil War and only 2% of all Americans owned slaves when the Civil War started? I am sure that they don’t know that most if not all the black slaves in America originally came from Africa and were initially enslaved by fellow blacks in tribal wars and then sold for profit by their black brothers and then ended up as slaves in America. How about the uncomfortable truth that 13% of all American slaves were owned by free black men? Slavery has been practiced by virtually every country and every race in the world through history.

Democrat 'Infanticide guv' makes animal cruelty a felony

Virginia Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam famously has indicated he’s willing to allow a new-born child to die, but he’s concerned about cruelty to animals.

Northam has signed legislation making animal cruelty a Class 6 felony, punishable by a fine of up to $2,500 and a prison sentence of up to five years.

In November, however, he supported a bill that would have allowed abortion through all nine months of pregnancy and even permitted allowing newborns who survived an abortion to die.

More HERE

All the Progressive Plotters

Is it now permissible in 2020 for Trump’s FBI director to insert an informant into the campaign of the Democratic presidential nominee? If Joe Biden is the 2020 nominee, will the Trump Justice Department seek FISA warrants to monitor the communications of Biden’s campaign team—in worries that Biden son’s business practices in the Ukraine had earlier compromised Biden who had intervened on his behalf by threatening to cut off aid to Ukraine? Will they investigate Biden’s propensity to hug and kiss under-aged girls? Will Trump’s CIA director contact foreign nationals to aid in spying on Biden’s aides? Will National Security Advisor John Bolton request that the names of surveilled Biden campaign officials become unmasked as a way of having them leaked to the media? Will Trump hire a British ex-spy to gather together rumors and gossip about Biden’s previous overseas trips and foreign contacts.

More HERE

Love Your Enemies: How Decent People Can Save America from the Culture of Contempt

Divisive politicians. Screaming heads on television. Angry campus activists. Twitter trolls. Today in America there is an “outrage industrial complex” that prospers by setting American against American, creating a “culture of contempt” — the habit of seeing those who disagree with you as not merely incorrect but also worthless as people.

Vaping Restrictions Hike Youth Smoking

Similar to how government regulations of opioid medications helped to fuel the recent heroin and fentanyl scourges, it seems government restrictions on e-cigarettes to combat the “vaping epidemic” has inadvertently increased combustible tobacco cigarette use among youth. Such is the law of unintended consequences.

Across the nation, lawmakers seem stuck in a tragic game of whack-a-mole. The more they try to reduce youth vaping, the more they increase youth combustible cigarette smoking. For example, Lancaster County, Nebraska reported a reduction in sales of vaping products to minors “from 21.2 percent in 2017 to 5.3 percent in 2018.” During the same period, non-vaping tobacco product sales to minors increased, from 5.9 to 8.7 percent.

Moreover, a 2015 Yale study found state bans on the sale of e-cigarettes to minors created “a statistically significant 1.0 percentage point increase in recent cigarette smoking rates among 12 to 17 year olds.”

More HERE

GOP senator, Chicago mayor agree on Rockford and Chicago casinos

ROCKFORD - Over the weekend, longtime state Senator Dave Syverson (R-Rockford) posted a photo of himself with the incoming new Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, and declared that he agreed with her on one thing - well really two things - a casino in Rockford and a casino in Chicago. 

"Had a chance to meet with new Chicago Mayor. One thing we certainly agree on is Casino’s in Chicago and Rockford," the senator wrote.

A constituent defied the senator's eagerness for more casinos in Illinois, saying, "Gambling revenue comes from the same pot of revenue as before gambling arrives. Therefore, more money spent on gambling means less money spent on the stuff before gambling."

The writer wrote consumers always lose at the table as the odds are set by the state, and went on to write, "Lastly, gambling operators are bottom feeders and the wrong people to mix with!" 

Senator Syverson stood his ground, however, answering publicly that getting a casino in Rockford and Chicago is "good economics." 

Did you get a tax cut?

DC - Depends on who's speaking about taxes today on April 15th, 2019 as to whether the Trump Administration's Tax Cut was good or totally irrelevant.While some are complaining their tax refunds are less than last year, many of those complainers are not realizing less was taken out of their checks every pay period throughout the year - allowing them to deposit more into their bank accounts all year long, while keeping their refunds low. 

The point is - Uncle Sam got less from each American worker all in all. 

Here's what the Republicans are saying today:

Prolifers conclude 40 Days prayer emphasis outside Illinois abortion clinics

Local residents pray for end to abortion at Flossmoor Planned Parenthood

FLOSSMOOR - At the site of Illinois' newest Planned Parenthood Clinic in south suburban Flossmoor Illinois, prolifers gathered Saturday evening for a candlelight vigil concluding the movement's annual 40 Days for Life prayer emphasis.

From March 6th to April 14th, prolifers took turns praying outside five Illinois abortion clinics - in Champaign, Downers Grove, Flossmoor, Skokie, and Springfield.

Effingham County Board considers voiding FOID card; offering Chicago Separation referendum

BREAKING: Monday afternoon, Effingham County Board passed both resolutions discussed below: the FOID Card Repeal resolution 8 to 1; the Chicago Separation ballot referendum 7 to 2. More to come ahead ... Wording to Separation referendum question below.

EFFINGHAM COUNTY - Monday afternoon, the Effingham County Board will be voting on two resolutions that are bringing to the state's surface an undercurrent of downstaters rejecting Leftist policies stemming from Chicago politicians. 

One resolution condemns Illinois' Firearm Owners Identification Card, authored by Effingham County board member Dave Campbell. Campbell has already successfully passed legislation deeming Effingham County a "sanctuary county" - rejecting what county law enforcers deem as "unconstitutional removal of gun rights." 

The second resolution before the Board Monday will be placing a question about whether the rest of Illinois outside of Cook County should separate and form a new state. Board member Heather Mumma will present the Separation resolution.  

This weekend, the growing Chicago Separation movement Dave Campbell (photo right) is leading in Effingham County and State Rep. Brad Halbrook (R-Shelbyville) is advocating statewide was featured in the Chicago Tribune and on national news.