Illinois Review

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.

Klavan: What Donald Trump Knows That Conservative Intellectuals Don’t

By Andrew Klavan - 

Every war is two wars, a war of ideas and a war for terrain. The war of ideas is won by argument and demonstrations of good will. The war for terrain is won by brute force.

Democracy is not supposed to be a war. It’s supposed to be all ideas all the time. You make your case. I make mine. Maybe we find compromises. The voters decide.

But for the past I-don’t-know-how-many years, one side, the left, has also been fighting a war for terrain. We on the right have been deploying our ideas, trusting in our institutions and assenting to the process. But they on the left have been using pure, brute force in an attempt to take over the intellectual terrain on which ideas are discussed.

Universities, the news media, entertainment outlets, social media — all have fallen to the pressure, blacklisting, and occasional violence of the Left. Rioters and hecklers keep conservatives off campus. The news and entertainment media blacklist conservatives, and small numbers of “boycotters” puff themselves up like adders and scare off conservative sponsors. People are fired — lose the means to support themselves and their families — for such crimes as believing that there are two genders or supporting Donald Trump. ....

.... This is what Donald Trump understands that too many conservative intellectuals miss. The belligerent and obstreperous Trump was called to the presidency by voters who know that, while the war of ideas can and should be waged politely by American friends, a war for terrain is a much uglier business.

More HERE

Records Reveal Obama White House Tracked FOIA Requests for Clinton Emails

Judicial Watch announced today that it obtained 44 pages of records from the State Department through court-ordered discovery revealing that the Obama White House was tracking a December 2012 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking records concerning then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of an unsecure, non-government email system. Months after the Obama White House involvement, the State Department responded to the requestor, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), falsely stating that no such records existed.

Judicial Watch’s discovery is centered upon whether Clinton intentionally attempted to evade the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by using a non-government email system and whether the State Department acted in bad faith in processing Judicial Watch’s FOIA request for communications from Clinton’s office. U.S District Court Judge Royce Lamberth ordered Obama administration senior State Department officials, lawyers, and Clinton aides, as well as E.W. Priestap, to be deposed or answer written questions under oath. The court ruled that the Clinton email system was “one of the gravest modern offenses to government transparency.”

Transit Continues Its Death Spiral

Public transportation is a declining industry. Randal O’Toole writes:

Nationwide transit ridership in the first quarter of 2019 was 2.6 percent below the same quarter in 2018, according to data released by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) last week. Transit’s most recent downward spiral began in 2014, and ridership over the twelve months prior to March 31 was 8.6 percent below the same twelve months four years ago.

Ridership is declining for all major forms of transit travel. First quarter bus ridership was 2.1 percent below 2018 while first quarter rail ridership declined by 3.2 percent. Commuter rail, light rail, heavy rail, and streetcars all lost riders. [...]

Seven measles cases in Illinois launches $3.5M+ statewide vaccine campaign

SPRINGFIELD – Seven cases of measles in Illinois launched a vaccine effort of at least $3.5 million in taxpayer-funded grants to local health departments, Governor Pritzker's office announced Friday. 

Pointing to the number of measles cases nationwide, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) is "taking action to prevent cases of measles and increase vaccination rates. Recent actions range from direct outreach to communities with low vaccination rates, new grants for local health departments, and public education campaigns," Pritker's office reported.

Trump signs proclamation to protect US auto industry

WASHINGTON DC - Friday, President Donald J. Trump took historic action to protect the American automobile industry, its workforce, and American innovation.

Following an extensive review of the Department of Commerce’s Section 232 automobile report, President Trump today issued a proclamation directing the United States Trade Representative to negotiate agreements to address the national security threat, which is causing harm to the American automobile industry.

More on the proclamation and its desired effect on the US automobile industry here: TMANews.com 

Rossi: Why Trump is so Right regarding China Tariffs

By Randy Rossi - 

Those of us that have competed with and/or done business in China have been very frustrated with the fact that most Americans didn’t understand that China is the greatest cheating and stealing nation on Earth which is also the greatest strategic threat to America there is according to our government. We are thrilled that we finally have a president that is willing to stop China’s massive attack on our economy and national security.

Here are just a few critical facts that should make every rational American understand this massive Chinese threat and why President Trump’s tariffs on China are the right thing to do: