Illinois Review

Illinois' university profs concerned over how Texas abortion ban could affect "trans men"

EVANSTON - Illinois' prestigious Northwestern University professors wrote in the school's online news source last week that Texas' new ban on aborting babies with a heartbeat could negatively affect pregnant women who identify as a man.

In the Northwestern Now, the story says:

A trans man living in Texas may choose to conceal his transgender status to coworkers, friends and even in-laws to protect himself from violence and gender dysphoria. As his abdomen grows due to a pregnancy for which he can no longer legally get an abortion, however, keeping identity private in public spaces may become next to impossible.

The abortion ban in Texas imposes the burden of pregnancy — and with it, the burden of potential dysphoria, being outed or violence — on trans and gender nonconforming individuals without viable alternative choices.

Di Leo: "$3.5 Trillion or $5.5 Trillion?" Is Entirely the Wrong Question to ask

By John F. Di Leo - 

“Hey, do we have seventy-five bucks each?”

“Seventy-five bucks?”

“Yeah, seventy-five bucks each.”

“You mean for you and me, so it’s $150?”

“Well, it’s for the kids too, so it’s $375, total.”

“Oh.  Well….  I don’t know… Depends.”

“Can we do it or not?”

“Well, I don’t know, when would we need it? Is this for today?”

“I’m thinking, we could charge it… or you could volunteer for some overtime for a couple weeks… or I could hock Grandpa’s watch….”

“Well, it depends.  Tell me… What’s all this for?”

Parker: Clarence Thomas and the Declaration of Independence

By Star Parker - 

Recently, Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas arrived at the University of Notre Dame to speak about the Declaration of Independence.

Speaking invitations like this that Thomas accepts are few and far between.

Anyone who cares about our country and listens to this address will wish that he would agree to speak more.

His presentation was a brilliant and profound articulation of what America is about at its core.

It is what every American needs to hear in these troublesome and divisive times.

More HERE

Where’s Weyermuller? Searching for the invisible, but costly, Kenilworth Public Library

By Mark Weyermuller - 

The Kenilworth Library District with a population of 2500 residents has a property tax levy of $315,000 yet they have no building & NO BOOKS. They spend $27,000 in admin costs to give that money to the Wilmette & Winnetka libraries on a contract basis. Information on this district can be found HERE.

Anybody can use these libraries for free from any community with no photo identification is required to enter and read books on site. My understanding is only residents can check out books to take off site.

Last week I attended one the Kenilworth Library Board meetings. They have five board meetings a year yet they have no building and no books in their village. I asked a variety of questions during a four minute presentation for public comment. As per Illinois' Open Meetings Act, any person can attend and speak at these meetings.

Thorner: Why are coronavirus cocktails so difficult to get?

The below is not intended as medical counsel, only as information to be considered in researching treatments. 

By Nancy Thorner -

A monoclonal antibody is a laboratory-produced protein that functions like the antibodies made by the immune system in response to infection.

 

By binding to a specific molecule on a virus or bacteria — known as an antigen — a monoclonal antibody can enhance or restore the immune response against these pathogens and can help prevent the virus from infecting human cells

 

Most of the monoclonal antibodies being developed to treat COVID-19 target the spike protein, which the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) uses to enter the host cells.

Biden Wants to Ban Many Popular Bulbs

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has proposed a new set of stricter energy efficiency standards for light bulbs.

The scheme, published in the Federal Register on August 9, sets new efficiency standards for around 2 billion bulbs, including those in decorative fixtures, recessed, and track lighting. Many of these types of bulbs had not been regulated under previous efficiency standards.

Because many of the most popular types of bulbs are unable to meet the new efficiency standards, should the rule be finalized, billions of popular light bulbs would be banned from sale.

More HERE

Attorney: A fundamental right to bodily integrity

An Ohio-based attorney told LifeSiteNews that vaccine mandates, whether put in place by private companies or the federal government, are not on a sound legal footing.

Thomas Renz, who is representing healthcare workers in Michigan in a legal challenge to jab requirements, said there’s “no question that the fundamental right to bodily integrity exists, and supersedes the state’s interest, even in preserving life.”

Renz’s clients include a group of Henry Ford Health System employees in Michigan who objected to the healthcare organization’s jab requirement. Renz withdrew the lawsuit on September 10 in response to pending jab requirements from President Joe Biden’s administration. His clients remain in legal limbo, he said, though he expects they will win their lawsuit.

“We’re not done with this, we just have to change it,” Renz said. “Ethics are super, super important to me … and it’s not appropriate to waste the court’s time with it.”

The clients he represents, including nurses and other health care staff, “have a fundamental right to bodily integrity as recognized under the law, but that’s being egregiously ignored around the country.”

More HERE

Biden’s Failure at Del Rio

The number of Haitian migrants at Del Rio may dissipate, but the border crisis won't go away. The Editors at National Review write:

A crisis is a terrible thing to create.

The incredible scenes in Del Rio, Texas, over the last week of the formation of an instant migrant encampment of 15,000 people on U.S. soil are a direct result of the Biden administration’s feckless policies at the border.

2 Illinois Congress members vote against funding Israel's Iron Dome

Jerusalem Post photo

DC - Two Democrat members from Illinois of the US House - Marie Newman (IL-3) and Chuy Garcia (IL-5) joined with the Liberal Left Thursday to oppose American financial aid to Israel's key protection from radical terrorist attacks. 

The bill to help Israel retain its missile defense system called the "Iron Dome" passed the House with an overwhelming 420 to 9 vote.

The "no" votes were Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.; Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.; Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass.; Cori Bush, D-Mo.; André Carson, D-Ind.; Marie Newman, D-Ill., Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz.; Chuy Garcia, D-Ill.; and Thomas Massie, R-Ky.

Defense News explained what happened.

Illinois Policy searches for free-market candidates

CHICAGO - Illinois Policy is undertaking an historic effort to increase competition in state representative district across Illinois, and if you're interested at all, they'd love to speak with you. 

While very aware of the startling numbers of folks moving out of the Prairie State, the non-profit group says "We want you to stay and fight!" 

Over the past decade, Illinois Policy argues, there have been hundreds of instances where the only choice presented ona ballot was for a single candidate, often an incumbent. This has been especially true in Chicago and Cook County. 

"We seek civic-minded, qualified and capable candidates that share our free-market ideas, to be candidates in one of the many districts that have been deprived of competition over the past ten years or more," Illinois Policy said in a statement. 

"We are interested in hearing from you even if you have never run for or held public office in the past," they write. 

More information can be found at www.illin.is/lincoln or email Dan Patlak at dpatlak@illinoispolicy.org.

Miller only IL Republican to oppose federal bill requiring girls to register for draft

WASHINGTON - Thursday, Congresswoman Mary Miller (IL-15) voted against the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), saying the measure "provides the American people with zero accountability for the disastrous withdrawal in Afghanistan and requires young girls to register for the military draft."

"As of today, neither Secretary Lloyd Austin nor General Mark Milley have testified or resigned over the disaster they created in Afghanistan,” Miller said. “We still have no idea if $20 billion or $80 billion in weapons is now in the hands of the Taliban and al Qaeda. We have no idea how many al Qaeda terrorists were released from the prison at Bagram. The Biden Administration's incompetence left us with 13 dead Americans because they were relying on the Taliban to secure their perimeter, and now the Administration is asking for a blank check for the NDAA. Why on earth would we sign off on this?”

Miller was the only Republican from Illinois to vote "No," along with three Democrats from Illinois - Danny Davis, Chuy Garcia and Jan Schakowsky.

Di Leo: Turkey and Sage Dumpling Soup with Basement Joe

By John F. Di Leo -

Introduction: Imagine, if you will, an alternate universe in which a confused old man - Joe Buckstop - stumbles into the presidency, and spends his entire term in his basement. Each evening, an aide walks downstairs and serves him his bowl of soup, and engages him in conversation about current events, in a losing effort to keep him hale. Tonight's episode is an excerpt from the ongoing series, "Evening Soup with Basement Joe," by John F. Di Leo, a fictional chronicle of the events of 2021, a political satire available in paperback or eBook from Amazon.

"Good evening, sir! You hungry?"

 

"Come on, man! Leave me alone, I'm sleeping here!"

 

"Oh, sorry to wake you, sir, but it's time for your nightly bowl of soup, sir!"

 

"I'd rather sleep."

 

"I'm sure the whole world would rather have you sleep too, sir, considering what happens when you're awake, but my job is to wake you up for your soup, sir."

 

"Why?"

 

"Because they want you to have some food in you before your cocktail, sir."

 

"Cocktail? I'm not having a cocktail."

 

"I mean your jab, sir. Your vitamin shot, sir."

Liberty Counsel calls on Southern Illinois Healthcare to accept employees' religious exemption

The non-profit legal counsel group Liberty Counsel sent a demand letter to Southern Illinois Healthcare (SIH) on behalf of seven employees and numerous others who have been unlawfully denied religious exemption from the COVID shot mandate without explanation or ability to appeal. 

SIH advised its health care workers that their deadline to receive the first dose of a COVID-19 injection is September 24, 2021. SIH requires employees seeking religious exemption from the shot mandate to submit their requests on the specified form. In addition to requiring each employee’s personal statement explaining the employee’s religious objection to the injection, the form illegally demands that a third-party religious leader verify the sincerity of the employee’s beliefs and the employee’s membership “in good standing” of a religious organization. 

However, Liberty Counsel wrote in a statement on the issue, SIH does not inform its employees of the increasingly apparent policy of the SIH Exemption Committee and SIH Occupational Health & Safety to deny nearly all religious exemption requests without explanation. In addition, some employees have received religious exemptions based on the same reasons given by employees who have been denied. SIH does not provide any reasons for its denials and refuses to provide them even after employees have requested them. All this is an apparent attempt to hide its illegal reasons.

Illinois Republicans want to allow voters to recall elected officials, others

(The Center Square) – Illinois Republicans are pushing for a constitutional amendment they say empowers voters to deal with corrupt elected officials up and down the ballot.

Illinois has a recall provision but it’s only for governor. State Sen. Jason Barickman, R-Bloomington, said it’s unworkable because it requires 30 members of the legislature, half from each party, to sign off.

“Without that affidavit, you can’t proceed and again what this creates is an impossible tool for the public to actually ever use,” Barickman said during a news conference.

Marter to Underwood: Condemn Ilhan Omar's anti-Semitism

Underwood & Omar

Oswego, IL – GOP Congressional Candidate James Marter called out Congresswoman Lauren Underwood (IL-14( Wednesday for being a "friend to anti-Semites" instead of a friend to Israel.

"Representative Underwood failed to denounce her friend, [Congresswoman] Ilhan Omar in 2019, for what Illinois NPR called hate speech towards Israel," said Marter. "Now in 2021, Congresswoman Underwood failed us again, remaining silent in response to Omar's remarks comparing the U.S. and Israel to Hamas. How can we let a representative remain in office if they can't tell an ally from a terrorist organization?"

Referring to The Hill and Roll Call news sources, Marter said Democrats stripped away $1 billion dollars in funding for Israel’s critical Iron Dome self-defense system. The Iron Dome protects Israeli civilians from indiscriminate rocket attacks launched by Hezbollah and Hamas.

Illinoisans deserve better, as does our nation and our ally Israel, Marter said in the statement.

Thorner/O’Neil: Get informed. Then Act.

Outsons photo

By Nancy Thorner & Bonnie O'Neil - 

Pew Research has been around for a long time and has a good reputation. The organization seeks citizens’ opinions about a variety of different issues and subjects in order to better understand the direction the USA is headed based on their public opinion polling.

Conservatives can/should make their views more public, because our political opponents are doing so and thus having an influence on how people view specific aspects of our society and lives.

Dr. Orient Op-Ed: This Is Not about Freedom or Personal Choice

by Jane M. Orient, M.D.

Today we have two contrasting quotations from world leaders. One said: “Mandatory vaccinations will never be allowed because [this] is a free country and its people are sovereign.” The other said: “This is not about freedom or personal choice.”

The first was by Vladimir Putin. Russia, a free country! The second was by Joe Biden. The U.S. is no longer a free country, and the people are not sovereign. Nor are the once-sovereign states. If state governors won’t cooperate with him, “I’ll use my power as president to get them out of the way.” It is not clear exactly how he would accomplish that. Invade the state and occupy its capitol and its courts? Arrest the governor and perhaps the legislature and throw them into prison without bail like some January 6 demonstrators? Already, many states are suing—perhaps we will learn whether the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution has any meaning.

Who would have believed that a U.S. President would ever say such things?

President Trump Cancelled FDA Contracts to Buy Aborted Baby Parts, It Hasn’t Purchased Any Since

The Food and Drug Administration assured the Daily Caller News Foundation Friday that it has not entered into any contracts “for the purchase of human fetal tissue” since 2018.

The agency’s response follows the release of documentation obtained by Judicial Watch showing that the FDA procured fetal organs, tissue, and heads for research that involved “humanized mice.” Previous documents uncovered by Judicial Watch found that the FDA requested “fresh and never frozen” fetal organs.

“I’ve been doing this for 23 years. These documents we’ve gotten from the FDA and our other lawsuit…they are the worst things I’ve ever seen,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton told the Daily Caller News Foundation Friday. “The most troubling documents I’ve ever seen.”

More HERE

Di Leo: The Personal Side of Social Media Censorship

Fred J. Di Leo

By John F. Di Leo - 

On September 20, AD 2011, my father, Fred J. Di Leo, passed away at the age of 80.

Dad was special, in many ways… An active member of his parish, a retired middle manager at Standard Oil of Indiana, a wonderful actor in Park Ridge community theater in the 1970s and 80s. Dad had been a competitive pistol marksman in the 1950s, then a park commissioner and Republican party activist in Evanston in the 1960s and 70s, and his life was full of thousands of wonderful moments, so many wonderful anecdotes to remember him by.

Normally, I write a Facebook post or two on anniversaries like this, recounting those anecdotes for friends and family, helping his memory live on. Most of us with accounts on Facebook do the same, posting sweet, funny, or sometimes sad, memories of those we have lost, on the anniversaries of their births or deaths.

Today’s column is not such a memorial - I’m not here to write about my wonderful Dad - but an explanation of why I could NOT make such a post today, and why so many others cannot either, because of an odd, modern, and particularly offensive form of censorship: the concept known as Facebook jail.

US headed in right direction? 68% don't think so.

DC - An overwhelming majority of American likely voters are not happy with the nation's direction a new poll says. 

Thirty-two percent (32%) of Likely U.S. Voters think the country is heading in the right direction, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey for the week ending September 16, 2021.

This week’s finding is down two points from a week ago.

The national telephone survey of 2,500 Likely Voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports from September 12-16, 2021. The margin of sampling error for the survey is +/- 2 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.