Illinois Review

The Center Square: Illinois schools prepare to vaccinate kids 5-11

(The Center Square) – Illinois schools will likely play a role in delivering COVID-19 vaccines to kids aged 5 through 11.

A Pfizer vaccine will likely be approved for that age group in the coming weeks. Federal regulators will meet over the next two weeks to weigh the benefits of giving shots to young kids.

The White House reportedly told Gov. J.B. Pritzker to start preparing the state to vaccinate children 5 and older by early November. The Biden administration has purchased 65 million pediatric doses of the Pfizer vaccine, enough to vaccinate 28 million children. Pfizer’s vaccine is currently the only vaccine authorized for emergency use in children as young as 12.

Deere workers strike reminds potential electric vehicle makers Illinois wants to ban right to work

Bloomberg

WATERTOWN - Governor Pritzker is working to attract electric vehicle manufacturers to Illinois, but the ongoing strike at Deere is throwing a wrench into his plans. The strike reminds all those potential manufacturers that Illinois is not a right-to-work state. 

Indeed, Governor Pritzker and his Democrat supermajority in the Illinois General Assembly are set on being the first state to ban ANY non-union shops in the state. Next year, Illinois voters will be able to determine if they want such a ban placed in the state's constitution. 

Crain's tells what's going on ...

The first strike at Deere in 35 years, and the first large-scale walkout at a major manufacturer in Illinois since a Caterpillar strike ended in 1995, is generating national headlines just as the state makes a play for new factories. Gov. J.B. Pritzker is vying with right-to-work states such as Tennessee and Texas, as well as Midwest neighbors, for electric vehicle and battery plants that could bring billions in new investment and thousands of high-paying jobs. As Illinois tries to propel its century-old automotive and heavy equipment manufacturing forward for another generation, it must grapple with its past. 

The Deere strike “puts the spotlight on Illinois not being a right-to-work state,” says John Boyd, a principal at the Boyd Company, a site-selection consultant in Boca Raton, Fla., that has worked on electric-vehicle manufacturing projects. “Most searches prioritize right-to-work states: Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas.”

The situation at Deere could be embarrassing for Pritzker and the Illinois Manufacturing Association, which declared Monday how supportive they are of Governor Pritzker's effort to make bring electrical vehicle production to Illinois.

Downers Grove parents, citizens lock arms to defend students

DOWNERS GROVE - Parents and concerned citizens in Downers Grove are locking arms to defend District 99 students against the demands being placed on their kids - while at the same time challenging what they see as hypocrisy at the district's highest levels.

The group - WAKE UP D99 - is a part of a growing movement statewide, all concerned about their children's welfare.

Together, this emerging group of D99 parents and citizens raised $5400 to join a lawsuit filed Wednesday of 145 schools with almost 900,000 students to challenge Governor JB Pritzker's statewide mask mandate. The suit, filed by downstate attorney Thomas DeVore, is scheduled to be heard November 5th at the Macoupin County Court in Carlinville, Illinois. 

But concerned citizens of District 99 have also set up a website and Facebook page to publicly detail challenges they are mounting towards district officials - specifically D 99 Superintendent Hank Thiele. After viewing social media photos posted from a recent Illinois Association of School Administrators conference, the taxpayers reported responses they received from Dr. Thiele, who is part of the IASA's leadership.

Di Leo: From the Siege of Boston to the Baldwin Shooting

By John F. Di Leo - 

On Thursday, October 21, AD 2021, actor Alec Baldwin, a well-known anti-gun extremist, allegedly killed a cinematographer and injured the director, by firing a loaded gun directly at them during the making of a western movie called “Rust” on a remote film set in New Mexico.

As more information comes out every day, it is too early to write a definitive account of the incident, or even to completely rule out intentional homicide.  At this writing, it appears to be agreed that an assistant director took a gun from a table, announced “Cold Gun” and handed it to Baldwin, who accepted it without personally checking it, then aimed it at the camera for a “point of view” shot, practicing his cross-draw before filming it, hitting both the cinematographer and the director with a single round.

There will likely be legal precedents set by this case; there will certainly be an avalanche of books and op/eds about it. Alec Baldwin will be pilloried in the press, and rightly so, but I wonder if the most important lesson of the incident may be lost in the storm.

Concerned parents to rally at State Capitol Tuesday

SPRINGFIELD - The radical Leftists that control the Illinois General Assembly are working to repeal Illinois' only abortion-limiting policy - its Parental Notice of Abortion law.  Governor JB Pritzker is eagerly waiting to sign into law any measure that would allow minor girls to get abortions without their parents' knowledge. 

 

Pro-lifers are planning to urge the lawmakers to leave the law as it is with a rally Tuesday, October 26th at the State Capitol in Springfield. 

 

Planners are asking those concerned about the issue to arrive at 10 am and stand for a few hours outside the building.

Thorner: What’s President Joe Biden's Fascination With Trains?

ABC News - Disney photo

By Nancy Thorner - 

Why is Joe Biden so fascinated with trains? Could it be because Biden's son Hunter in 2006 was appointed to a five-year term as an Amtrak board member under President Bush?

In an article written by Brent Scher dated October 15, 2019, FLASHBACK: Hunter Biden’s One Qualification for Amtrak Board Was Taking Trains:  "Hunter Biden's only qualification for obtaining a seat on the Amtrak board of directors in 2006 was that he often rode trains.”

Napolitano: Who Writes the Laws?

By Judge Andrew P. Napolitano - 

It is distressing for those of us who believe that the Constitution means what it says to observe the destruction of liberty caused by vaccine mandates.

On one side of this destruction are those whose opposition to vaccines finds comfort in the executive orders of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who purported to prohibit private businesses in Texas, from mom-and-pop stores to Fortune 100 conglomerates, from requiring their employees to prove COVID-19 vaccinations in order to use the employer’s private property.

On the other side of this chasm are supporters of President Joseph R. Biden, who announced last month that he plans to order the Department of Labor to compel all employers in America of 100 or more persons to require their employees to prove vaccination against COVID-19 on the employer’s private property.

One edict prohibits behavior on private property. The other edict compels behavior on private property. Both violate liberty.

More HERE

Democrats Want to Turn the U.S. Into Europe

More destructive than any specific policy item modern Democrats are pushing this year are the ideas they use to justify their agenda.

The $3.5 trillion bill that President Joe Biden and Democrats are now attempting to cram through Congress via reconciliation is meant to create a European-style cradle-to-grave welfare state here in the United States. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the bill’s Senate author, has, for years, praised systems across the Atlantic. As have many other Democrats.

Rossi: Biden’s Southern Border Catastrophe Finally Exposed

By Randy Rossi - 

While any informed American already knew that Democrat President Joe Biden has created a national disaster at our southern border, President Biden and his administration have constantly denied it with the help of the “Fake News” which almost never reports on it and never shows the thousands of illegal immigrants storming our border every day. But they can’t hide it anymore thanks to a new report from the Department of Customs & Border Protection which reports to President Biden.

In that report, they confirmed that 1.73 million illegal immigrants were arrested for illegally crossing our border in fiscal 2021 (October 2020-September 2021). That is the highest number of illegal immigrants in one year in U.S. history! And that does not include the estimated 560,000 “Got-Aways” or illegal immigrants who were not caught. Contrary to the liberal pitch that most of these illegal immigrants were families with children, 1.1 million (65%) were single adults. This is a national disaster that impacts every American taxpayer, the rule of law, and our national security yet our Democrat president and vice president deny it and ignore it with the help of the “Fake News”.

Kinzinger condemns Trump associate Steve Bannon

Bost discusses Dems' removal of Hyde Amendment in latest federal spending spree

Gary Rabine: Legislature must reject efforts to overturn parental notification

WOODSTOCK – Illinois Republican candidate for governor, Gary Rabine, is calling on state lawmakers to reject efforts to overturn the state’s parental notification laws during the fall Veto Session.

"Far-left extremists in the House and the Senate are pushing legislation to repeal Illinois’s current law requiring parental or guardian notification whenever a minor 17 years and younger seeks to have an abortion," Rabine's press release says.

“The war on families in Illinois continues,” Rabine said in the statement. “Minors need parental consent to get their ears pierced, go on school field trips or open a checking account, but the far left wants to allow minors to get abortions without parental notification? This is an assault on families. It is wrong. The advocates behind this legislation know it is wrong. Lawmakers must stand up for the rights of parents.”

Illinois GOP senators call on General Assembly to protect parental rights

SPRINGFIELD – Earlier this week, the women members of the Senate Republican Caucus joined together to protect parental rights when it comes to protecting and providing support to their child who has decided to receive an abortion.

During a Capitol press conference, Senate Republican Deputy Leader Sue Rezin (R-Morris), State Senator Jil Tracy (R-Quincy), State Senator Terri Bryant (R-Murphysboro) and State Senator Sally Turner (R-Beason) defended the necessity for Illinois’ Parental Notice of Abortion (PNA) Act.

David Pennington: The Poor Will Always Be With Us

By David Pennington - 

The foundation: There will always be poor people, because life is worth living, even if being poor is the best you can achieve. 

This fact contradicts one of the main tenets of the Marxists, which is that poverty is evidence of systemic unfairness.

1. They attempt to lay "blame" for poverty at the feet of the successful. (Their Stick) - We are not guilty.

 

2. They lobby to remake the fabric of society with the promise of eliminating poverty. (Their Carrot) - Their promise is hollow.

 

Today's 'bleeding heart liberal' is personally attached to living comfortably and projects his or her own fear, of life without those comforts, onto people who don't have them and never have. I believe it is this projected fear that makes them vulnerable to the suggestion that they are to blame for poverty.

 

People in general are charitable. Many support anti-poverty charities, other initiatives, and government programs because it makes them feel good, and—in my view—because they have not subjected the matter to critical thought. (I’m opposed to hand-out programs, but support “hand-up” programs: “Teach a man to fish….”)

Di Leo: Sometimes, the Price Tag is Just a Distraction

By John F. Di Leo - 

Let’s say it would cost $5.5 trillion dollars to wipe out your city by planting landmines under all the streets and sidewalks.

Another proposal on the table is to wipe out the city by buying old poison gas on the dark web, and planting it in public buildings and public places when crowds are expected; this proposal only costs $3.5 trillion.

A third proposal, only just recently promulgated, would involve the hiring of foreign mercenaries to shoot up the place; they work cheap, by comparison, and the bill is expected to only range between $1.5 and $1.75 trillion to wipe out the town this way.

I won’t bother to ask you which of the three is the most responsible choice, because, Gentle Reader, you know that the price tag isn’t the main issue here; the real issue is the end game, the horrible goal of wiping out the town.  The method, the price tag, even the perpetrators don’t matter; the very goal is domestic terrorism, and it must be opposed.  At any cost, without compromise.  We must stop this effort.

Nationwide effort to place cameras in the classroom launches

SACRAMENTO -- As education throughout the United States suffers the effects of an increasing ideological and cultural divide, more parents, students and educators are calling for a simple, technological fix: cameras in the classroom.
 
Capitol Resource Institute (CRI) and Nevada Family Alliance (NFA) are leading a nationwide campaign calling for cameras in all K-12 public school classrooms, CamerasInTheClassroom.org.
 
"This is not only a call for transparency in what is being presented to our children, we believe it is a valuable tool for creating a safer learning environment. Cameras in every classroom will help restore the cooperative process between parents and educators in teaching our children," said Karen England, Executive Director of CRI.

Rossi: President Biden's Disastrous Inflation Will Hurt You & Your Family

By Randy Rossi - 

Democrat Joe Biden has only been president for roughly 10 months but he has already caused massive damage to America, our reputation, and the future’s of our children. But a lot of that damage has not been personally felt yet by the average American. Biden’s disastrous, unpatriotic, and embarrassing retreat from Afghanistan caused world wide damage to America’s reputation, honor, and world peace; but the average American has not felt the pain yet.

The incredible chaos that Joe Biden has caused at our southern border by promoting anarchy and open borders has not impacted the average American yet, but it will. The Biden administration’s attack on our traditional American values and freedoms should be obvious to all Americans but it has not affected their lives yet.

Illinois Review contributor John F. Di Leo featured with Mark Vargas on AM 560 The Answer's "Mark My Words"

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS - John F. Di Leo - a longtime contributor to Illinois Review - was featured Sunday night on Mark Vargas' "Mark My Words" AM 560 radio show. Di Leo spoke about the current hot topic "Supply Chain Crisis."  John's part in the show starts at right 51:49 below ...

John, a transportation expert for over 30 years, was also recently featured in the Technology & Manufacturing Association's News Bulletin on the topic of the Supply Chain Crisis.

Dr. Eric Wallace speaks with Dr. Alveda King on the topic of abortion

CHICAGO - Dr. Eric Wallace - a conservative well-known in Illinois - launched a new video series "Kingdom in Konflict" with Dr. Alveda King, the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, who is an outspoken advocate for life. 

"Is it possible to regain legal protection for the most innocent?" Dr. King discusses the question in an interview with Dr. Wallace, who also publishes Freedom's Journal Magazine.

Thorner: Common Sense Protects Borders and Nations

Yahoo News image

By Nancy Thorner - 

 

Eleven times between May and Sept. 2021, Croatia has pushed back against illegal migrants at four locations along the country’s border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Their riot police carried out the push backs as part of a national strategy code named “Koridor”, which is part-funded by the EU. 

 

Greece and Romania have also carried out hundreds of what’s claimed to be illegal pushback operations at the European Union’s external borders since early 2020 as part of a “violent campaign” to deny access.

 

The findings, recently published by the Amsterdam-based investigative news organization Lighthouse Reports, reveal that masked security forces and police units in the three EU member states have repeatedly taken coordinated, clandestine action to prevent asylum seekers from crossing their borders.