Illinois Review

Glennon: Best Chicago news in 2017? Historic low teen births

By Mark Glennon -

The full impact will materialize only over many years, but my vote for the best news in Chicago this year was the huge drop in teenage births to a historic low. As recently as 1999, the rate of teenage births was over 3.5 times the current rate, and the improvement has been across all racial and ethnic groups. With births now at 27.5 per 1,000 females ages 15 to 19, Chicago is now not far above the national average of 22.3.

National news focuses on nation's "worst Republican governor" in Illinois

This week, Fox News Special Report spotlighted Illinois Republican Governor Bruce Rauner as the nation's worst. 

Trump supporter leaves Chicago to launch new projects in D.C.

Suzzanne Monk and husband Alex | Photo by Mark Weyermuller

Former Chicagoan Suzzanne Monk is now living in the D.C. area, fully immersed in promoting President Donald Trump and his worldview. Illinois Review readers first met her when she reported what went on inside the cancelled Trump rally at the University of Chicago Pavillion in 2016. 

Besides doing live Facebook broadcasts about Making America Great Again, she's also writing for a new national website called Political Storm: Where Your Voice Matters.

She's offering ideas for Trump supporters to consider as New Year resolutions: 

Thorner: Aussie by Birth on Mission to Teach Children American Values

By Nancy Thorner - 

In schools across the country, students are not being taught foundational principles such as federalism, checks and balances, and separation of powers. Instead, most students are taught the Constitution is a "living" document that needs to be constantly updated and reinterpreted. Another alarming trend in academia is revisionist history that overemphasizes the darkest chapters in U.S. history while simultaneously downplaying the most positive aspects of our country's past.

These were the topics discussed Saturday, December 9th at the Heartland Institute, with author Nick Adams promoting the importance of the history and significance of the U.S. Constitution. The event, Helping Students Understand the Constitution, was well received by all age groups present.

Rep. Breen reacts to circuit court ruling on taxpayer funded abortions

Illinois state Rep. Peter Breen, R-Lombard, said Thursday he's disappointed and will appeal the Sangamon County circuit court's ruling to dismiss a taxpayer-funded abortion lawsuit he brought with pro-life groups and other state lawmakers.

Di Leo: In the Coming Boom, Inequality Will Be By Choice

By John F. Di Leo - 

What is it that ends a recession, and finally brings about an economic boom?

After a long and painful “non-recovery recovery” – a decade-long stretch in which job growth and the labor force non-participation rate remained flat – the federal government has finally accomplished, in 2017, the primary contributions that it can make to bring about a real recovery:

By year-end, Congress had passed, and the president had signed, a long-overdue tax cut, reducing the tax rate that employers pay by nearly a half.  It wasn’t enough, and we will need to add additional cuts in a phase two and phase three that are yet to come… but it was a critical first step.

Illinois' Andrzejewski Maps the Swamp

Illinois' Adam Andrzejewski has published a report that shows the federal government is even bigger and costlier than we think. The report titled "Mapping The Swamp" was produced by Open The Books, an independent nonprofit that tracks federal spending using the government’s own numbers. Andrzejewski is the founder and CEO.

“Mapping The Swamp” may be the most comprehensive and creative report ever compiled on the true size and cost of the federal government. These 10 findings highlight the hundreds of previously undisclosed facts contained in the report.

1.) Federal workers are paid $1.1 million a minute, $66 million every hour, and $524 million each day.

2.) The number of federal workers paid more than $200,000 annually increased 165 percent between 2010 and 2016, those making $150,000 or more by 60 percent, and those getting $100,000 or more by 37 percent.

3.) More than 400,000, or roughly one of every five, federal workers makes a six-figure income. Nearly 30,000 of them are paid more than all 50 state governors. 

Illinoisans stand in line to pay 2018 property taxes early

Posted on Twitter from DuPage County and Will County treasurers' offices

SPRINGFIELD - Reports are coming in from Chicago's suburbs of property owners standing in line to pay their first installment of 2018 property taxes before the end of the year. Why? Because they live in Illinois, one of the "high tax" states in which federal taxpayers will have an annual cap on state and local tax deductions of $10,000 starting next year.

The lines at treasurer offices in Will County and DuPage County are long because Illinois' taxes are way too high, State Rep. David McSweeney told Illinois Review Wednesday.

Rauner challenger says she's not heartless, she's got a heart for state's taxpayers

WHEATON - Dubbed by some of her Illinois House colleagues as tough, independent and more stubborn than cooperative, State Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) - who is also running for governor - says she really doesn't care what her colleagues say about her.

Ives says she has a deeply-held motivation for what she does in Springfield and intends to stick with it during the next three months leading up to March 20 - Illinois' 2018 Republican Primary Election Day.

Emergency injunction sought to stop Illinois taxpayer abortion funding from starting Jan 1

Emergency injunction request to be heard at Sangamon County Circuit Court Thursday

SPRINGFIELD - Attorneys are making a last minute effort to stop Illinois taxpayers from paying for abortions, a law that Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has determined will go into effect January 1, 2018, despite the state's inability to fund the new program and religious objections to it.

The legal group Thomas More Society moved for an emergency injunction to be heard on Thursday, December 28, to stop State of Illinois officials from providing tens of thousands of taxpayer funded abortions in the New Year. Additional legislators and groups will also seek to join the suit that day, including State Representative Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) and State Senator Neil Anderson (R-Rock Island).

Federal Incarceration report shows 20 percent of federal inmates as illegal aliens

On average, 68 of the 341 inmates at Illinois' Thomson Prison are illegal aliens (The Dispatch)

CHICAGO - A new federal report says that 20 percent of those in federal prisons are immigrants, and almost all of those foreign-born inmates are in the U.S. illegally, contrasting with publicized studies touting how safe embracing illegals is.

Last week, the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security issued their final quarterly report for 2017 measuring progress since a January executive order by President Donald Trump to crack down on illegal immigration.

The report also found that about two-thirds of all immigrants in the custody of U.S. Marshals Service were in the United States illegally.

Trump and the GOP's Massive Tax Victory

By Justin Haskins, Washington Examiner - 

In the wake of Congress’ passage of its historic tax reform bill, some will say it took one year for Republicans to pass a signature piece of legislation, but they’re wrong — it’s taken decades. Republicans have been promising to reform the broken tax code and replace it with a system that allows people to keep more of their hard-earned money. Over and over again, the GOP failed — until now. Thanks to the leadership of the Trump administration, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, tax reform will soon provide relief for tens of millions of families and dramatically expand the nation’s economic growth.

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Ending Net Neutrality Will Save the Internet, Not Destroy It

By Jesse Hathaway and Justin Haskins, Fox News - 

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) made the right move when it undid an Obama-era power grab commonly referred to as “net neutrality,” ending the agency’s micro-management of the internet. The Trump administration’s Restoring Internet Freedom Order gets government out of the business of telling internet service providers how to run their networks – putting consumers and private businesses back in charge of how the internet operates.

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Blame Government, Not the Market, for Dwindling Coal Industry

By Isaac Orr, The Hill - 

Advocates of renewable energy say free and competitive markets are to blame for coal-fired power plants being replaced by natural gas and wind generation. The problem is, there is no such thing as “free-market electricity generation,” because electricity markets are warped by a series of state and federal government policies. These include a host of regulations that require states to purchase a portion of their electricity from renewable sources, as well as federal policies that subsidize renewable energy sources and impose onerous regulations on coal-fired power plants, such as the Clean Power Plan.

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Choosing a School Should Be as Easy as Choosing a Hair Salon

By Teresa Mull, Foundation for Economic Education -

Government, particularly when it comes to providing an education, stinks. Think about all the things you spend money on in life. Why do you pick one product or service provider over another? Is it because government told you to? Unless there’s a tax incentive, probably not. But in the case of education, we are often told one school is better than another by government, which sets its own historically horrendous standards by which to judge its own schools. What an absurdly flawed system!

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Can we expect to see blue UN helmets protecting violent Chicagoans from themselves?

CHICAGO - Can Chicagoans expect to see UN troops with blue helmets protecting residents from violent neighbors?

"FALSE," the rumor-dispelling Snopes.com is saying. 

The rumor started when in mid-December a Cook County commissioner told the media Chicago was experiencing something similar to an African tribal war:

Kimmel can relax, Congress funded CHIP in short term budget fix

WASHINGTON - Despite the concerns Jimmy Kimmel expressed on his late night show about Republicans appearing to ignore the needs of medically-vulnerable children, the U.S. Congress funded $3 billion into the federal program in the short term budget bill passed Thursday. 

Kimmel's concerns became the topic of angry Facebook users' posts, stirring viewers' panic that subsidized children would go without the medical care the program provides. 

U of I Urbana-Champaign seeks admin for social justice 'advocacy and activism'

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is seeking to hire a new administrator to supervise “social justice education programs” and promote campus diversity.

The new administrator will “assist with social justice and leadership education programs and opportunities for Residential Life staff and students” and supervise "advocacy and activism around issues of social justice and inclusion."

More HERE

Sanctity of Life in Illinois Goes to Court

Kids Need Talented, Tough Teachers

By Robert Holland, American Spectator - 

What makes the average grade-school child happy? Not necessarily notching a high score on a math test, if the results of a little study recently featured in Education Week are to be believed. The study’s headline-grabbing conclusion was that, in general, teachers who do well in raising kids’ test scores do worse in making them happy in class. Among progressive educators, who are a strong influence in teacher-training institutions, that is a heavy indictment.

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Where Does the Federal Government Get All That Money?

Did you know that the U.S. federal government collects more than $3 trillion in taxes each year? Where does all that money come from? Find out in this short video.

Di Leo: Finding Winners and Losers in the 2017 Tax Reform

By John F. Di Leo - 

The primary goal of the mainstream media and their puppets in Washington known as the Democratic Party (or is it the other way around? It’s so hard to tell these days…) is now to study the 2017 Tax Reform plan and identify who directly benefits most, and who directly benefits least, so that the program can be portrayed as a contest between winners and losers.

This is logical in their zeitgeist – a world that operates under the “zero sum game” theory of the anti-capitalist mentality. They believe the economy is a pie, so if someone gets a bigger slice, then by definition someone else’s slice must be shrinking.

Never mind that any objective study of history proves the zero sum game to be utterly false… never mind that economies expand based on the actions and choices of individual and groups, to the extent facilitated or restrained by the leviathan. Thousands of years of continually expanding economies are apparently not enough data for the Left to break from their core belief that for one to benefit, someone else must suffer.  It is a religion for them.

Ives responds: Benedict Rauner's 10 Betrayals in 2017

WHEATON: In response to Governor Rauner's proclaimed 10 best things he's done for the state of Illinois since becoming governor in 2015, Republican primary challenger Jeanne Ives released her own list Wednesday afternoon.  A list of what Ives considers "Benedict Rauner's" betrayals:

Schaumburg High parent appeals to D211 School Board about "genderless" locker room policy

SCHAUMBURG - Schaumburg High School parent Ralph Bonatz addressed the D 211 School District Board this week about a controversy growing over a male student demanding access to the girls' locker room at Schaumburg High School. 

"...[L]et’s remind ourselves, these are minors we are talking about here," Bonatz told the board. "I don’t want my daughter at risk of being intentionally or accidentally exposed to a penis or a fully unclothed male in her high school locker room. Do you?"

Illinois federal lawmakers line up according to politics on tax reform

WASHINGTON - Despite being billed among the "high tax" states, Republicans representing the state of Illinois lined up in the U.S. House to support a measure to cut taxes for many Americans, while lowering the federal corporate tax rates.

All Democrats representing Illinois - including U.S. Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth in the other chamber - opposed the tax reform measure.

19,000 wreaths laid on veterans' graves in Elwood's Lincoln National Cemetery

ELWOOD - Illinois farmer Matt Boucher put together a video of Wreaths Across America 2017's laying of Christmas wreaths on veterans' graves at the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Cemetery. 

Wreaths Across America is a nationwide event in the U.S., honoring military veterans by placing wreaths on their graves during the second week in December.

In nine years, the event has grown to placing 19,000 wreaths in the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood IL. 

The Unbearable Weight of the IRS

The income tax code contains 50,000 restrictions. The chart below shows the number of restrictive words (like “must” or “shall”) in Internal Revenue Service regulations (Title 26 of the Code of Federal Regulations). The dark blue area shows the number of restrictive words in part 1 of Title 26—the regulations pertaining to federal income taxes. Clearly that number has gotten larger since the 1980s.

Patrick McLaughlin, Stephen Strosko, and Andrew DeJoy write:

Hollywood Wants Your Money...and Your Mind

Imagine a group so powerful they could beam ideas directly into your head. Well, you don't have to imagine -- it's Hollywood. Ben Shapiro, Editor of the Daily Wire, explains the world's largest mass propaganda machine.

Gutierrez has 3 items GOP budget needs to get his vote. Hint: DACA

WASHINGTON - Retiring Illinois Congressman Luis Gutierrez says in order to get a Democrat vote on the budget - due before the end of the year - there are three things the Republicans must include:

1. Women's rights (Read: Federal abortion funding for Planned Parenthood)
2. Children's needs (Read: Federal funding for children's health care in addition to Medicaid)
3. Immigrant rights (Read: Amnesty for 800,000 DACA immigrants)  

Rauner boasts his top 10 biggest accomplishments in 2017

CHICAGO - Monday, the Rauner campaign issued the governor's following top 10 major accomplishments in the last year ... and top 10 reasons her should be re-elected in 2018.

What would you list as Rauner's top 10 issue hits?

Illinois AG sues Trump over net neutrality

FCC Chairman posted a light-hearted commentary on YouTube about net neutrality

CHICAGO - The argument over net neutrality has basically lined up as the Left being for it and the Right being against it.

Illinois' Democrat Attorney General Lisa Madigan is on the Left politically, and so she's dragging the state of Illinois into a lawsuit against the Trump Administration opposing the FCC's ruling last week to reverse the 2015 Net Neutrality rule. Blue states California and Washington are joining the lawsuit.

Illinois abortion stats lowest since 1973

SPRINGFIELD - While Illinois taxpayers will be forced to pay for abortions possibly as early as January 1st, in 2016, the number of abortions declined by 3.7% - 1,474 less statewide. That's the only good news, however, according to Illinois Right to Life's executive director Emily Troscinski.

“With lax abortion laws and pro-abortion politicians pushing extreme, anti-life legislation like HB 40 and SB1564 through our General Assembly, Illinois is becoming more out of touch with the science and the rest of the country,” Troscinski said.

Trump to remove climate change from national security threat list

President Trump will announce Monday his new National Security Strategy, putting his own stamp on a defense plan that reverses an Obama administration policy by eliminating climate change from a list of threats to national security, the Washington Times is reporting.

Senior administration officials said Sunday that Mr. Trump will release the plan Monday afternoon in a speech that outlines his emphasis on protecting American economic power as well as securing the homeland.

Officials briefing reporters Sunday confirmed that Mr. Trump’s national security playbook eliminates climate change as a priority in defense planning.

More HERE.

Republicans Need a Better Sales Pitch for Tax Reform

By Peter Ferrara, The Observer -

Congressional Republicans will soon finalize their tax reform bill. However, they still need to win the battle for public opinion. They are confident that a long overdue, booming recovery will settle all arguments over their tax reform bill. Truly, the sharp contrast between Obama’s stagnation and what is about to happen will have enormous political consequences for a generation or more. But to make the victory more assured and permanent, congressional Republicans, the president, and his administration need to make a much better case for their tax reform plan to the public.

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Trump Needs His Own People Running Federal Bureaucracies

By H. Sterling Burnett, Townhall - 

President Trump has not yet appointed many people to key slots in the federal government, indicating he believes many of the positions are unnecessary or redundant, and thus don’t need filling. But that means he is letting Obama holdovers – who are vehemently opposed to his agenda – retain and abuse their power. If Trump really wants to “Make America Great Again”, create jobs, and reduce the power of government, he needs to get his people in place and make it not Obama’s government anymore.

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Defeating Terrorism in the Age of Trump

Despite the collapse of the ‘Caliphate’ in Iraq and Syria, Islamist movements are continuing to gain momentum. ISIS remains formidable. The group retains a significant physical presence in the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia and continues to direct or inspire acts of terrorism in the West, including the Halloween attack in New York and a string of atrocities across Europe.

Trump sets new record on federal judge appointments in first year

WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans confirmed President Donald Trump's twelfth federal appeals court nominee this week, setting a record for the most circuit court picks confirmed in a president's first year.

The Senate’s 53-43 vote makes James Ho, a Taiwanese immigrant, the first Asian-American to serve on the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. He was recommended for the position by Texas U.S. Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz.

Hultgren: How will Illinois small business owners fare in the tax reform proposal?

WASHINGTON - Illinois Congressman Randy Hultgren's opinion about the pending tax reform measure is featured Friday in D.C.'s "The Hill." How will Illinois businesses fare in the proposal? Will the bill benefit those nasty rich people only? 

One segment of his opinion piece explains how those "rich small business owners" actually do more than pay "their fair share":

Illinois public schools to require accommodations for breastfeeding students in 2018

 
Although not required by law, Colorado teen moms are paged out of class to breastfeed

SPRINGFIELD - State lawmakers voted this year to make Illinois the second state after California to require public schools to provide accommodations for lactating students. The law will go into effect January 1.

Breastfeeding provides health benefits for babies and long-term preventative effects for mothers, including an earlier return to pre-pregnancy weight and a reduced risk of pre-menopausal breast cancer and osteoporosis. 

Thorner: Party Divisions spark at Republican Women's event in Lake County

By Nancy Thorner - 

The lines drawn in the Illinois Republican Party between those pushing for Governor Bruce Rauner's re-election and party's base conservatives rejecting the incumbent's performance were distinct during the Lake Forest/Lake Bluff Republican Women's annual Christmas party in early December. 

Mark Shaw, 10th CD Republican Committeeman and Lake County GOP Chairman, who was honored during the evening for his work to build the local party, confronted the evening's keynote speaker Dan Proft. ""You were given 40 minutes to shoot your mouth off with your b*****,"  Shaw said, and went on to challenge Proft, asking him how much Proft had donated in time and money to the IL GOP.

The confrontation between personalities and perspectives didn't stop there. 

Brinkman's Reviews: A Different Drummer: My Thirty Years With Ronald Reagan

A Different Drummer: My Thirty Years With Ronald Reagan

By Michael K. Deaver, Forward by Nancy Reagan

Harper Collins, 2001, 290p

Reviewed by Daniel Brinkman - 

Watching the honor guards and troops file by on Inauguration Day 1981, Reagan, hand on his heart, was tersely told by the General to his right that it is not appropriate for the president to return the salute unless his head is covered. Turning to his longtime aide and friend, Mike Deaver, Reagan said, “I feel very uncomfortable just standing here, not acknowledging their salutes.” Deaver, whispering into the new president’s ear said, “You can do whatever the hell you want – you’re the commander in chief!” Reagan’s eyes lit up. After a deliberate pause, Reagan raised his hand slowly to his forehead, and completed a salute with such perfection that many military men would blush with envy. “He did it with such zeal, I think he even made the attending general proud,” Deaver recalled.

Social Security Won't Give You Security

If you're counting on Social Security to finance your retirement, you're in for a big surprise. Money expert Chris Hogan explains why.

Elizabeth Warren’s Plan to Make Credit Freezes Free Verges Nonsensical

By Peter Ferrara, The Observer - 

If Jesse James were alive today, he would probably be a progressive Democratic senator from Massachusetts. When they asked Mr. James why he robs banks, he replied, “Cuz that’s where the money is.” There is no better summary of the economic philosophy of Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Whatever you produce and sell, Warren seems to think it would be only fair to require you to give it away for free. If she was on the Indian Affairs Committee, she would probably be introducing the Free Tomahawks Act of 2017.

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Ives responds to Wall Street Journal's editorial on Illinois

Jeanne Ives (photo by Mark Weyermuller)

WHEATON - GOP gubernatorial primary candidate State Rep. Jeanne Ives responded Wednesday afternoon to the Wall Street Journal's report on Illinois, saying  “In 2014, Governor Rauner ran on a reform agenda that would grow Illinois’ economy. This report dramatically highlights Benedict Rauner’s many betrayals on his fiscal promises.

The Wall Street Journal published an article, Illinois Drives People Away, that said, "Fitch Ratings reported this week that Illinois’s unfunded pension liabilities equaled 22.8% of residents’ personal income last year, compared to a median of 3.1% across all states and 1% in Florida.”

Ives issued the following statement in response:

Rauner responds to Quincy veterans' home story

CHICAGO - Governor Bruce Rauner responded to a story drawing attention today about 13 veterans dying at the Veterans Home in Quincy. The WBEZ story writers FOIA'd the governor's staffs' emails pertaining to the situation in 2015, and the correspondence suggested a month-long delay in notifying the families and the public. 

Rauner said: 

My administration is deeply concerned about the veterans at the Quincy Veterans' Home. We are committed to ensuring the residents get the care and treatment they deserve in a safe living environment.

When the first incidence of Legionella occurred in Quincy, six months into my administration, we quickly brought in the Centers for Disease Control and followed their recommendations. The state has implemented a robust and comprehensive water management plan including the construction of a new water management plant and routine testing of the water at the facility.

The CDC in its most recent report said the remediation is 'aligned with the best practices identified in CDC’s water management toolkit.'

Legionella is a virus that is a growing concern in the U.S., not just in Illinois. That it has arisen in a place where our bravest and most cherished defenders reside is a tragedy, and we intend to keep working with the CDC at our side to protect our residents.

Brinkman Review: Improbable Planet: How Earth Became Humanity’s Home

By Hugh Ross

Baker Books, 2016, 288p

Reviewed by Daniel Brinkman

Inconvenient Facts

In the May 2000 issue of Science, a shocking article appeared. A team of geologists at Franklin and Marshall College, examining conditions on earth some 541 million years ago, calculated that there were “182 skeletal animal designs theoretically permitted by the laws of physics (under which conditions at the time could support).” Fully 146 of these appear the very instant their appearance was first possible. Until this period, the sea’s chemistry did not permit the formation of skeletons. This expansive initial appearance of life is, however, the rule and not the exception.

Wall Street Journal scorches Illinois' dismal finances

NEW YORK - The fiscal guide Wall Street Journal posted a scathing editorial "Illinois drives people away" Tuesday about Illinois and its loss of revenue and population in the past ten years:

If Republicans succeed in limiting the state-and-local tax deduction, one hope is that this could finally inspire a come-to-Jesus moment in prodigal high-tax states. Democrats in Illinois ought to be especially chastened by new IRS data showing an acceleration of out-migration.

BREAKING: State Rep. Jeanne Ives, GOP gubernatorial primary candidate, released a response to this piece Wednesday afternoon HERE.

13 Illinois veterans die of Legionnaires in state-run facility; 11 families sue for negligence

WBEZ photo

QUINCY - After the deaths of 13 veterans in an Illinois-run facility in 2015 and 2016, grieving families are suing the state for negligence, a WBEZ 91.5 story "Surviving War, but not the Veterans' Home" reports.  

The culprit appears to be the Illinois Home's 100 year old plumbing system. Legionellosis or "Legionnaire's disease" can be contracted when people inhale infected water vapor through showers, sinks, and fountains. 

UPDATE: Governor's office responds to WBEZ story Wednesday afternoon.

61% say food stamp and welfare recipients should be drug tested

CHICAGO - While GOP State Senator Jason Barickman breaks with GOP ranks and declares his support for legalizing recreational marijuana in Illinois, anticipating a vote in the near future, Illinois' neighbor just to the north is heading in another direction: accountability to taxpayers. 

It's a move the majority of Americans agree with, a new Rasmussen survey says. 

It's Time to Rethink Crony Capitalism

By David D’Amato, American Thinker - 

The Niskanen Center’s Brink Lindsey and Steven Teles have been making the rounds of late, promoting their new book The Captured Economy. In it, Teles, who teaches political science at Johns Hopkins University, and Lindsey, a long-time think-tanker whose previous experience includes several years at the Cato Institute, argue “the powerful have rigged the economic game in their favor.” The authors’ acknowledgment that government is actively tipping the scales in favor of the rich and their economic interests is refreshing.

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