Illinois Review

Hennepin IL ethanol maker cancels $500M expansion plan

HENNEPIN, IL – An Illinois ethanol maker announced last week that due to "anti-business state legislation and burdensome international trade tariffs," the company has reversed plans to build a $500 million ethanol facility.

Marquis Inc. announced its decision to let more than 800 acres in Illinois land options in Scott County, near Jacksonville, expire in late April, shelving its plans for the development of a $500 million ethanol facility.

Among reasons for the cancellation, Marquis Energy cited pending state legislation that would undermine the competitive business process.

“This legislation would inflate the cost of the development to the point the project would not have an adequate return on investment and would negatively impact our company’s ability to competitively bid construction projects,” the company’s CEO Mark Marquis said in a statement.

The rest of the story at TMANews.com

Hispanics lead housing, income surge, poverty at record low

HISPANICS BENEFIT FROM TRUMP ECONOMY: "Latinos are finding their economic legs under the Trump administration, leading the surge in home ownership and income growth and record low poverty rates, according to two comprehensive new surveys. While they remain far behind whites in income, they have seen their third consecutive year of income growth and have a higher workplace participation rate, according to the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals and the Hispanic Wealth Project."

More at: Washington Examiner

FBI Raids Baltimore Mayor’s City Hall Offices, Home Amid Corruption Probe

BALTIMORE MAYOR UNDER SCRUTINY: "FBI and IRS agents on Thursday raided the home and city hall offices of Baltimore mayor Catherine Pugh as part of an investigation into possible public corruption... Pugh took a leave of absence from her position earlier this month after it was revealed that she made $500,000 selling copies of her Healthy Holly children's-health book to the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) while sitting on the system's board. It was later revealed that health insurance provider Kaiser Permanente paid Pugh $100,000 for 20,000 copies of the book while the company was seeking a lucrative contract to insure the city's employees."

More at: National Review

Bank of America Misled Customers, Investors on Direct Donations to Planned Parenthood

BANK OF AMERICA'S BIG ABORTION LIE: "2ndVote has released documentation challenging Bank of America's defense of its contributions to Planned Parenthood. In a letter recently obtained by 2ndVote, the president of the Bank of America Charitable Foundation apparently responded to a customer concerned with the bank's support for Planned Parenthood: 'Bank of America does not make any direct grants to Planned Parenthood.' Bank of America did contribute over $50,000 in what appears to be so-called 'matching gifts' to the abortion giant through its foundation in 2017."

More at: 2ndVote

Judge Helps Illegal Immigrant Circumvent Justice

Feds charge Mass. Judge with obstruction for aiding illegal alien escape from ICE. "Federal prosecutors charged a Massachusetts judge with obstruction of justice Thursday, saying she prevented immigration agents from arresting an undocumented immigrant after a state court hearing by allowing him to leave the courthouse through a back door. ... The indictment accuses District Judge Shelley Richmond Joseph and a court officer, Wesley MacGregor, of allowing the immigrant to leave the courthouse, out of a federal agent's sight, and lying about it later."

More at: USA Today

Trump makes NRA members happy pulling out of UN Arms Trade Treaty

VP Mike Pence at NRA Convention | Photo by Mark Weyermuller

BREAKING: President Trump made 15,000 NRA members very happy when he announced he was pulling the US out of the UN Arms Trade Treaty - which the NRA called "anti-gun."

"Today in front of 15,000 NRA members, President Trump once again demonstrated his commitment to our Second Amendment freedoms and  American Sovereignty," Chris W. Cox, executive director of the National Rifle Association's Institute for Legislative Action, said in a statement. "His commitment to un-sign the anti-gun United Nations Arms Trade Treaty that was forced on us by John Kerry and Barack Obama, gives NRA members one more reason  to enthusiastically support his presidency. Donald Trump isn’t afraid to stand on the side of freedom and defend our God-given right to self-defense and we couldn’t be prouder to stand with him."

The NRA crowd cheered as he signed a letter to the Senate to stop the treaty ratification process: 

NEWS: President Trump sends a request to the Senate to stop the treaty ratification process for the UN Arms Trade Treaty during his speech at @NRA annual meetings pic.twitter.com/c3CaolFI1i

— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) April 26, 2019

INDIANAPOLIS - The National Rifle Association will hear from President Donald Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence Friday during their annual convention being held this year in Indianapolis. 

Friday morning, VP Pence told the thousands on hand that he and the president would consistently defend their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. 

“@realDonaldTrump and I are ready to stand and fight with you to expand freedom for every American.” — @VP @Mike_Pence #NRAAM

— NRA (@NRA) April 26, 2019

Photo by Mark Weyermuller

DCFS releases detailed timeline concerning deceased Crystal Lake 5 year old

CRYSTAL LAKE - The disappearance and death of 5 year old A.J. Freund has been grabbing headlines for weeks in the Chicago area. The story has been so disturbing to those following the story, questions have been abounding as to how the Department of Children and Family Services missed the what ended up being deadly problems in the Crystal Lake home. 

Friday morning, the Department sent out a timeline with details concerning the family - the subtle point being that much of the investigation occurred during the Rauner Administration. The release is as follows verbatim from the Department:

US 1st Q GDP surprises naysaying economists

CHICAGO - While economists were predicting as late as Thursday that the 1st Quarter GDP would drop even lower than 2018's 4th Quarter - somewhere around 2%, likely to be downgraded to 1.8% - the US economy surprised everyone with Friday's morning's figures. 

Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased 3.2 percent in the first quarter of 2019, according to the "advance" estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the fourth quarter of 2018, real GDP increased 2.2 percent. 

That's good news for the U.S. - bulking up its world-leading $20,891 Trillion gross domestic product, with the second leading nation being China with $12,237 Trillion GDP. Third place is Japan at $4.7 Trillion. 

Even the most subdued economists are now saying they do not expect a recession in 2019, despite the US nearing a record-setting time period since the last recession in 2008-9. 

Glennon: Loaves, Fishes and Illinois' Graduated Income Tax

By Mark Glennon, founder of Wirepoints.com - 

How many times over can they count that $3.4 billion?

Hardly a day now passes without supporters of the Fair Tax – a graduated income tax for Illinois – adding to the list that supposedly would be covered by its additional revenue. That new revenue is optimistically estimated at $3.4 billion. Salute to whomever on Twitter was first to compare it to the story of Jesus feeding multitudes with fives loaves and two fish, because it sure fits.

Aside from plugging the $3.2 billion budget deficit claimed by Pritzker Administration, endless messaging from supporters says the tax would also provide for investment in schools and health care, tax relief for 97% of Illinois taxpayers, fixing our crumbling infrastructure, creating thousands of jobs, “paying off the Republican Party’s old bills,” assuring that domestic violence shelters are kept open, helping stabilize our pensions, putting us on a path to fiscal stability and more.

Concealed carry license holder fatally shoots would-be hijacker in Chicago Loop

CHICAGO -- A would-be carjacker was fatally shot by a licensed concealed-carry holder after an altercation in the South Loop Friday morning, Chicago police said - WLS AM 890 is reporting Friday morning.

The shooting took place at about 3:15 a.m. in the first block of Ida B. Wells Drive, police said. A 41-year-old man driving a BMW told police he was rear-ended by a 22-year-old man driving a Volkswagen. 

The driver of the BMW got out to inspect the damage and when he went back to get his cell phone, the Volkswagen driver approached with a handgun, demanded his keys and pushed him into the vehicle. 

Both men were inside the vehicle when police said the 41-year-old BMW driver, a licensed concealed-carry holder, retrieved his handgun and shot the 22-year-old man in the head. 

The rest of the story HERE

Hundreds of Small Businesses Call on Lawmakers to “Tank the Tax”

SPRINGFIELD – Illinois could have the highest fuel tax in the nation if Gov Pritzker and the Democrats decide they really want that dubious notoriety - it's on the way.

But if you're the person that drives across county or state lines to save 10 cents a gallon, you'll appreciate that the Illinois Petroleum Marketers Association (IPMA) and the Illinois Association of Convenience Stores (IACS) are partnering with hundreds of small business owners across Illinois to “Tank the Tax.”

Thorner/Ingold: Mueller Report's ambiguity provokes disbelief and rage

By Nancy Thorner & Ed Ingold - 

Robert Mueller might have closed the books on his 2-year reign of terror against Trump supporters, but that doesn't mean Democrats aren't determined to continue fishing for something to destroy Trump and his presidency through impeachment or otherwise. But what about the collateral damage Mueller caused by inflicting harm to many people, most of whom were innocent, as well as the American people, with his conspiracy theory about collusion with Russia which burned through at least $25 million at taxpayer expense.  

As reported by Attorney General William Barr in his four-page letter to Congress, the Special Counsel and his team "issued more than 2,800 subpoenas, executed nearly 500 search warrants, and obtained more than 230 orders for communication records."  They executed "almost 500 orders authorizing use of pen registers, made 13 requests to foreign governments for evidence, and interviewed approximately 500 witnesses."  

Is Denmark Socialist?

Socialism has failed across the world – from the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe to China, Vietnam, North Korea and, most recently, Venezuela. So now the left references countries like Denmark as “proof” that socialism works. Otto Brons-Petersen explains why they’re wrong: Denmark is just as capitalist as the United States.

Red Flag Gun Laws: A Page Out of Dystopian Science Fiction Novels

We see violations of civil liberties in the future. Red flag laws give authorities the power to take guns away from people who, though they have committed no crime, are deemed dangerous by courts. Passed by 15 states, such laws, writes Jon Miltimore, are dangerously close to the idea of pre-crime from the science fiction movie, Minority Report:

The film is based on a 1956 novel written by Philip K. Dick, the same author whose literary works inspired such films as Blade Runner, The Man in the High Castle, and Total Recall. If there’s a central theme running through Dick’s work, it’s the idea that the future will increasingly find individual autonomy under threat from creeping authoritarianism and omnipresent technology.

In Dick’s Minority Report, we see that defeating crime is easy with the help of so-called “precogs,” humans who have been weaponized by the state to allow authorities to prevent crimes (not just murder, as was the case in the movie) before they occur. Everything goes smoothly until John Anderton, the creator of PreCrime, is accused of killing a man he has never met or heard of. [...]

50,219,667 Tax Return Filers Paid $0 or Less in Income Taxes

Of the 150,272,157 tax returns filed for the 2016 tax year, 50,219,667—or 33.4 percent--were classified by the Internal Revenue Service as “nontaxable returns,” meaning the people who filed them paid $0 or less in income taxes, according to data published by the Statistics of Income Division of the IRS.

At the same time, 80 percent of all income taxes paid that year were paid by tax return filers who had adjusted gross incomes of $100,000 or more.

More HERE

Real Spies

Attorney General Barr is looking at internal American spying, and it’s a good thing. But while he’s at it, he should take a hard look at traditional spying. You know, enemy spies in our midst.

What if the coup operation worked, in whole or in part, thanks to the skilled efforts of one or more foreign intelligence services? What if our intelligence services were penetrated by Russian, Chinese, Iranian, Cuban and North Korean agents, who manipulated our spooks by dint of disinformation?

It would not be the first time we were gulled into believing we were getting assistance from our enemies, nor would it be the first time American politicians turned to enemy spooks for assistance in American political campaigns and operations. The most sensational such case was when, in 1983, Senator Kennedy of Massachusetts sent his law school buddy, former California Senator John Tunney, to Moscow with a message for the head of the KGB. The message: the strained relations between Washington and Moscow were the fault of Ronald Reagan, and the Kremlin needed a media campaign to make things better. Kennedy offered to help.

I Wanted to Help Google Make AI More Responsible. Instead I Was Treated with Hostility.

Including conservatives is too much diversity for Google. Kay Coles James writes:

Google decided this year to create an advisory council that would help guide the company in the responsible development of artificial intelligence. When the company asked me to join, I agreed, welcoming the opportunity to contribute my perspective as a conservative leader — and to test my thinking with council members who might not necessarily agree with me. Together, I thought, we might be able to make valuable contributions as Google explores an important new frontier of technology.

Like many businesses and nonprofits, my organization, the Heritage Foundation, relies on Google search, YouTube and other Google products to promote our work, to reach audiences and to advance our mission. We’re also concerned about reports alleging that Google suppresses conservative voices and politically skews its search-engine results. It was reassuring to be invited to participate in the AI advisory council — a sign that Google wanted to treat a wide range of viewpoints fairly as it develops new technology. Given the massive control exerted by social media and Internet companies over the information Americans use every day, such broadmindedness is essential.

With 7 measles cases, IL Dept of Health sounds vaccination alarm

SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) announced Tuesday they are are taking steps to increase vaccination rates across the state, in response to Illinois’ seven measles cases and CDC reports of more than 600 cases across the country in 2019. These steps include increasing accessibility to vaccines, expanding outreach in communities with low vaccination rates, and educating the public on the importance of vaccines.

“We are taking the threat posed by a rise in measles cases very seriously and are committed to taking action to keep Illinoisans safe,” said Governor Pritzker. “Working across agencies and at all levels of government, we will be taking steps to increase vaccination rates and ensure all of our families are educated about the resources available to them. There is no more important responsibility of our state government than keeping Illinoisans healthy and safe, and addressing this threat is a top priority for my administration as we move forward.”

IL GOP Committeeman McGlasson calls for help to fund Winchester lawsuit

PONTIAC - The dispute over which person should rightfully hold the 15th Congressional District Illinois Republican Party State Central Committeeman seat continues in the court system. As the disagreement continues, legal costs are mounting - and those defending State Central Committeeman Bob Winchester are appealing for financial aid. 

The following letter was sent out this week from the 16th CD State Central Committeeman John McGlasson statewide:

Thorner: Truth-telling about Illinois' folly to legalize pot

Sen. Heather Steans, Dist 7; Rep. Bob Morgan, Dist 58; Sen. Julie Morrison, 29th District

By Nancy Thorner - 

If it’s recreational, it can’t possibly destroy brain cells or be harmful in any other way to adults or teens who smoke pot, or so many politicians would have us believe here in Illinois. With Michigan leading the way as the first state in the Midwest to allow people with no medical reason to purchase and use marijuana, many Illinois legislators seem anxious to make Illinois state number 11 along with Washington, D.C.  Governor Pritzker endorses and supports legalized recreational marijuana, while Gov. Bruce Rauner opposed the move.

Pritzkers under federal criminal investigation, WBEZ reports

WBEZ photo

CHICAGO - Gov JB Pritzker, his wife, his brother-in-law and his wife's assistant are under investigation for a "scheme to defraud" Cook County taxpayers, WBEZ is reporting Wednesday morning. 

A law-enforcement source familiar with the investigation confirmed to WBEZ that the probe, which has not been revealed publicly until now, began last October and remains active. There are no signs that criminal charges are imminent.

Lawmakers copied and pasted Planned Parenthood abortion mandate

At “the bidding of Planned Parenthood,” California bureaucrats forced churches and religious organizations to pay for abortions through their health-insurance plans, according to a series of emails obtained in a lawsuit.

Three churches filed a notice of appeal with the 9th Circuit in their complaint against the California Department of Managed Health Care’s requirement.

The emails obtained by Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys who represent the churches show Planned Parenthood demanding the agency require that the health plans of religious organizations include coverage for abortion, regardless of moral or conscientious objections.

ADF argues the state, up to that point, recognized that religious groups should not be subject to such requirements.

Planned Parenthood, the emails show, threatened to promote its own legislative “solution” if the agency didn’t act.

Consequently, DMHC issued its abortion mandate in 2014.

More HERE

U.S. Intelligence Institutionally Politicized Toward Democrats

The CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies have become bastions of political liberals and the pro-Democratic Party views of intelligence personnel have increased under President Donald Trump, according to a journal article by a former CIA analyst.

John Gentry, who spent 12 years as a CIA analyst, criticized former senior intelligence leaders, including CIA Director John Brenan, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and former deputy CIA director Michael Morell, along with former analyst Paul Pillar, for breaking decades-long prohibitions of publicly airing their liberal political views in attacking Trump.

The institutional bias outlined in a lengthy article in the quarterly International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence risks undermining the role of intelligence in support of government leaders charged with making policy decisions.

More HERE

One-third of Americans don't believe 6 million Jews murdered

Almost one-third of American adults believe that significantly less that 6 million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, according to a recent survey conducted ahead of Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day).

The survey, conducted by Schoen Consulting on behalf of The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, found that 70% of US adults say fewer people seem to care about the Holocaust than they used to. 58% believe something like the Holocaust could happen again.

According to the survey, 11% of all US adults and 22% of millennials haven’t heard of, or are not sure they have heard of the Holocaust.

More HERE

 

McSweeney Pays to Boost Criticism of Fellow Republican

According to POLITICO's Shia Kapos, Illinois House GOP Leader Jim Durkin has pulled GOP State Rep. David McSweeney's communications aide after McSweeney (photo right) elevated his criticism of fellow Republican State Rep. Steve Reick. McSweeney was irked by a comment Reick made criticizing a bill that would force private Illinois companies to seat on their boards of directors specific numbers of individuals from protected groups. According to Kapos, McSweeney paid to promote a tweet condemning Reick's comment.

In a statement to POLITICO, Durkin said: "This is an internal caucus matter. I will continue working to move the Republican Party and House Republican caucus forward in Illinois but will not tolerate public attacks on fellow members."

A few weeks ago, McSweeney also publicly condemned the Illinois Family Institute for a pro-life article and meme they published criticizing Democrats as militant abortion advocates and drawing parallels between the U.S. abortion industry and the death camps of the Holocaust.

Wirepoints: Soon to be more Chicago pensioners than active workers

From Wirepoints April 22, 2019: 

You can’t help but call it a Ponzi scheme. Not if you look at Chicago’s collapsing demographics and consider how they’re threatening the solvency of the city’s government-run pensions. Chicago households are on the hook for more than $145 billion in state and local retirement debts and there are fewer and fewer people left to pay them.

Consider first Chicago’s falling population. The city’s metropolitan population has fallen four years in a row. It’s the only top-ten city to shrink like that. In all, the Chicago MSA lost 66,000 people between 2014 and 2018.

Read the rest on Wirepoints: Chicago’s pension funds looking more like a collapsing Ponzi scheme

Pro-life, pro-family groups encourage Skillicorn to make 14th CD bid

CHICAGO - Three pro-family groups in Illinois are encouraging state Rep. Allen Skillicorn (R-East Dundee) to seek the Republican nomination for the 14th Congressional - a race state Senator Jim Oberweis (R-North Aurora) has already announced he is pursuing. Crystal Lake HR specialist Danny Malouf and Republican businessman James Marter are stirring interest in bids, as well.

Skillicorn has been a consistent pro-life, pro-family voice during his first term in the Illinois House, the letter says - just what the 14th CD needs in 2020 to win back the 14th CD from Liberal freshman Democrat Lauren Underwood.

Sanguinetti announces campaign for Republicans to regain IL's 6th CD

Evelyn Sanguinetti with TMA President Steve Rauschenberger - 2018 file photo

WHEATON, IL – Former Lt. Governor Evelyn Sanguinetti announced Monday in her hometown of Wheaton that she is running for Congress in Illinois’ 6th District.

“I am running for Congress to keep the American dream alive,” said Evelyn Sanguinetti. “Only in America can the child of teenage immigrants who grew up on food stamps ascend to college, law school, and become our country’s first Latina Lieutenant Governor. I want my children to have the chance to live their own American dream, which is only possible through liberty, access, and opportunity.”

Gov signs measure taking wind farm standards out of township board hands

CHICAGO - Illinois Gov JB Pritzker signed a bill into law Friday that takes decisions concerning wind farm standards out of township board hands, and extends that power down to counties and local municipalities. Townships will no longer have authority in the process - neither will townships have uniformity within concerning wind farm standards - effective immediately.

The governor wants Illinois to become 100% dependable on renewable energy - a goal he set while running for office in 2018.

The Most Valuable Resource - Human Ingenuity

Human ingenuity is the most valuable resource. Ronald Bailey reports:

Inspired by [Julian] Simon's pioneering analyses, Marian Tupy,* editor of Human Progress at the Cato Institute, and Professor Gale Pooley from Brigham Young University-Hawaii have devised theSimon Abundance Index. Tupy and Pooley use data on 50 different commodities to track their price trajectories over the past 37 years from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. The index measures the timeprice of commodities and change in global population to estimate overall resource abundance. They find that the planet's resources became 379.6 percent more abundant between 1980 and 2017.

At 11:00 a.m on Monday, April 22, to mark the 49th anniversary of Earth Day, the Cato Institute is holding a public event to unveil the Simon Abundance Index.

Bad data are boosting “Medicare for All” proposal

The United States spends a lot more per person on health care than other economically advanced countries, yet has lower life expectancy and higher infant mortality rates than many of those countries. The problem, says Bernie Sanders and others, is that we don’t have Medicare for All. But, writes Robert Moffit, non-medical factors and bad statistics, are the real sources of these variations in outcomes:

In a 2017 study for the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers found that 74% of American variation in life expectancy—indeed, the largest source of variation—was attributable to behavioral and metabolic risk factors.

The recent annual declines in American life expectancy, based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, werelargely attributable to increased drug overdoses (opioids) and suicides.

Illinois spends more per student on school administration than any other state, report finds

And for what? Cole Lauterbach reports:

Illinois spends more on public school administrators per student than any other state in the nation.

A new analysis of public school spending by the Chicago-based Metropolitan Planning Council found Illinois spends $544 per student on administrative, non-teaching costs. That’s more than double the national average. Illinois was the only state that spent more than $1 billion in administrative costs in 2016.

“There’s just a lot of administration going around,” Metropolitan Planning Council Vice President Josh Ellis said.

More HERE

Half of Pastors Worry They’ll Offend Someone if They Preach on Controversial Topics

New polling has revealed half of American pastors are too concerned they might offend someone to speak out on hot-button social and moral issues, but could that problem have a simple fix?

According to research from the Barna Group, the same issues pastors feel most pressured to preach about are also the ones they feel most uncomfortable addressing.

It should come as no surprise the issues at the top of the heap are homosexuality and abortion.

More HERE

Over half of Illinois' counties declare themselves "gun sanctuaries"

SPRINGFIELD - Two more counties were added to the growing list of Illinois Gun Sanctuary counties this week - Piatt and Wabash - bringing the total up to 62, more than half of the state's 102 counties. 

The updated map, constructed by the Gun Rights Watch group, is colored green for the states that have accepted the "Gun Sanctuary" resolution. Counties colored golden are making progress towards accepting the resolution. Four are listed as voting on the resolution in the near future.

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.

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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.

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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.”

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