Illinois Review

75 days into the COVID-19 crisis, Illinois focuses on where 46% perished

CHICAGO - Thursday, May 27th, 2020, 75 days after his emergency declaration shutting down the state of Illinois to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Governor JB Pritzker focused his attention on residents living in long-term nursing facilities. 

75 days into the COVID-19 health care crisis, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) filed emergency rules mandating long-term care facilities comply with infection control practices, including testing all residents and staff for COVID-19. The IDPH will require each facility "to develop and implement a testing plan to better protect vulnerable residents and ensure no facility is shirking its responsibilities for those in their care."

Nearly three months into the world-paralyzing crisis, long-term care facilitie became a priority to state health officials. 

According to the IDPH's own website, there have been 14,862 confirmed COVID-19 cases among long-term residents and staff statewide, with 2,402 tragically dying from COVID-19. (The latest stats were posted May 23)

As of Friday afternoon, Illinois is reporting 117,455 COVID-19 cases, including 5,270 deaths. 

That means that nearly 46% of Illinois COVID-19 deaths were among long-term care residents.

Pritzker's removal of all COVID restrictions on churches cannot be trusted, says Liberty Counsel

CHICAGO - Thursday night, less than four hours before the deadline for Illinois Gov JB Pritzker to file his response to the Supreme Court to an emergency injunction request brought by the two Romanian churches, the governor unilaterally removed all restrictions on churches and houses of worship.

But Pritzker's change-of-heart may be temporary, Liberty Counsel says.

Ridings: The COVID revelation: What the Left insists is "settled science" is really "ideology"

By Jim Ridings -

I will never again wonder how Adolf Hitler got the German people to follow him to their destruction. I am seeing it today.

I am amazed by the Democrat governors and mayors who have issued unconstitutional orders shutting down businesses and putting millions of people out of work, using law enforcement agencies to arrest shopkeepers who are trying to earn enough money to stay alive, or go to church, or walk on the beach, and locking down citizens under house arrest.

Governors cannot suspend the United States Constitution because they fear a virus that is less deadly than the average annual flu, or for any other reason.

I am even more amazed at all the people who have willingly complied and surrendered their basic liberties and freedoms without a whimper.

Thorner/Ingold: Good News on Spread of Coronavirus

By Nancy Thorner & Ed Ingold -

A CNN headline on May 22, 2020 read, CDC estimates that 35% of coronavirus patient don't have symptoms. The article by Arman Azad was based on new guidance for mathematical modelers and public health official from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In summary, the CDC finds that 36% of the individuals testing positive for COVID-19 were asymptomatic. Under CDC guidelines, only those showing symptoms of COVID-19 are eligible for testing. Random data of this sort is trickling in now that employees are being tested in order to return to their workplace, where the percentage is as high as 86%.

Bad news for checking the spread of coronavirus?  Not so fast.

Former Illinois state senator about COVID-19: "It's a lie to pretend that government can protect you"

CHICAGO - "It's a lie for government to pretend it can protect you," former State Senator Steve Rauschenberger (R-Elgin) said this week in an video-recorded interview with Illinois Review. "It's an embarrassment [that elected officials responded as they did] - that's not American, it's not the people we are. We should never let this happen again this way."

"As things have become clearer that this is not going to kill five million Americans," Rauschenberger said. "I think there's been a slowness to address the real issues. We should be focused on the vulnerable, and let the rest of society get back to work, back to school and get on with their lives," Rauschenberger said. 

The 6 min interview:

Americans Need Employment Opportunities, Not Unemployment Incentives

Federal assistance can help bridge a temporary gap in employment and incomes, but the only long-term solution is to let people get back to work.

Extending already excessive unemployment benefits won't help. It will increase unemployment and reduce economic output.

If unemployment averages 10%, these additional benefits could cost every household in America an extra $3,300 to $4,000 in taxes.

More HERE

Civil Society Was Made for Moments Like This

Now, more than ever, efforts to rebuild our civic institutions are absolutely vital. Ryan Streeter and David Wilde write:

The spirit of American volunteerism has been on display from the very beginning of the coronavirus crisis: Medical workers have flocked to virus hotspots to help; scientists are volunteering to battle the virus; students are providing childcare for health workers; community volunteers are delivering food to the elderly and vulnerable and sewing thousands of protective masks for hospital workers. The list goes on.

“Hate Speech” and the New Tyranny over the Mind

A powerful movement intent on outlawing “hate speech,” will destroy self-government.  Arthur Milikh writes:

America is the only Western nation that does not criminalize “hate speech.” Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and most nations of Europe already do so. The United Nations relentlessly pressures the remaining holdouts to follow suit: “As a matter of principle,” says the U.N. Secretary-General, “the United Nations must confront hate speech at every turn.”

Meanwhile in America, Members of Congress issue their support for speech restrictions, and Big Tech’s digital oligarchs, enjoying a disproportionate power over society, continue to impose speech restrictions in exchange for access to their platforms. So are America’s colleges and universities more and more governed by an aggressive chorus of students, faculty, and administrators who demand and impose speech codes. These fronts promises to grow in size, strength, and confidence in the coming years.

We Need Production to Recover

Through most of the coronavirus crisis, those who have made the case for stay-at-home, reduce or stop work, and narrow the range of retail shopping to assure “social distancing” to reduce the spread of the virus have accused their critics of being more interested in preserving livelihoods than “saving lives.” But there is no preservation of any lives if people are not able to produce and work, without which none of the necessities and other wants of any members of society can be fulfilled.

Listening to many politicians and political pundits, and even some “economists,” you could easily think that 250 years of economic understanding had never happened. One of the oldest of economic fallacies is that money is wealth; that is, the notion that if you create pieces of paper, put some kind of government stamp on it announcing that it is “money,” and spread it around among the members of society, you thereby conjure up from nothing actual material and other forms of wealth.

More HERE

Rabine: Is Pritzker’s “FAIR TAX” Fair?

What Comes Next for Colleges?

COVID-19 has disrupted almost all aspects of life, including higher education.  Colleges moved classes online during the spring semester and some observers believe that this will permanently change higher education.  I think this will create new focus on how college creates value.

Online education has existed for years.  Arguably though, the willingness of the nation’s most prestigious universities to shift online affirms the quality of online instruction.  I would caution about reading too much into any response to this unprecedented pandemic.

Higher education’s predicament becomes much greater if the 2020-21 year ends up online.  I will not try to forecast the progression of COVID-19 here, but the California State University system recently announced online classes for fall.  An online year would produce an immediate financial crisis and a longer term viability challenge.

More HERE

What Does Separation of Church and State Mean?

Nearly every American knows the phrase “separation of church and state.” Do you know where it's from? Here’s a hint: it’s not in the Constitution. John Eastman, professor of law at Chapman University, explains how and why this famous phrase has played such an outsized role in American life and law.

Rossi: Hard Facts On the Tragic and Unnecessary COVID 19 Shutdown

Thanks to the COVID 19 shutdown, 40 million Americans have lost their jobs causing massive pain and suffering all over our nation. That is bad enough if that shutdown was necessary but new overwhelming facts show that this shutdown was a tragic mistake driven by hysterical and irrational fear and completely wrong forecasts from government bureaucrats. Originally the CDC told us that COVID 19 would have a fatality rate of 3.4% which they said would kill 2.2 million Americans. Now the CDC admits it was wrong and dramatically lowered the COVID 19 fatality rate by 91% to 0.3%. They were wrong by 91% and that is what created the hysterical panic and fear which allowed them to launch the massive COVID 19 shutdown that put 40 million Americans out of work. Americans should be outraged.

Sadly, “we the people” are part of the problem because we let fear drive us instead of logic and facts. Take a look at this very interesting chart below from the Washington Times. It shows that we should fear COVID 19 a heck of a lot less then the real dangers that we live with every day. On average we are 43 times more likely to die from something else than COVID 19. People 34 years old and younger are 200 more times likely to die from something else than COVID 19. People 35 to 64 years old are 49 times more likely to die from something else than COVID 19. Even people 85 years old and older are 39 times more likely to die from something else other than COVID 19. The bottom line is that we shut down our entire nation and put massive pain on 40 million Americans and their families because of a 0.03 percent chance that we could die from COVID 19. That folks is the definition of being ruled by hysterical and irrational fear.

As bad as that is, it gets worse. In addition to putting 40 million Americans out of work based on fear, we have created a massive mental health issue by putting those 40 million people out of work and scaring the heck out of all Americans 24X7 on social media and the “Fake News”. According to a Washington Post analysis of a new U.S. Census report from last week, 34% of Americans have symptoms of anxiety, depression, or both because of the COVID 19 pandemic. Suicides are up dramatically and one doctor in San Francisco said that he has seen a “year’s’ worth of suicide attempts in the last four weeks. Folks, what did we think would happen when we took jobs away from 40 million Americans and made all Americans hide in their basements for two months? And the media kept telling us 24X7 that we might die from COVID 19 even though the odds of dying from it are 0.03%?

Coronavirus Models Are Failing

Professor Neil Ferguson, who led the COVID-19 modeling team at Imperial College in London, resigned May 5 from his government advisory role after breaking the very same British lockdown rules that he had a role in influencing.

Ferguson led the Imperial College team that designed the computer model that, among others, had been used to justify the recent stay-at-home orders in England as well as in the United States. We now know the model was so highly flawed it never should have been relied upon for policy decisions to begin with.

Epidemiology—the study of the incidence, prevalence, and impact of disease—frequently calls upon models to forecast potential outcomes of diseases. Not surprisingly, once COVID-19 became a pandemic, policy experts from all across the world began relying on such models.

More HERE

TSA’s $77 Million Canine Units Can’t Detect Explosives, Put Aviation System at Risk

From Judicial Watch - 

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has spent $77 million on Passenger Screening Canine (PSC) teams at airports but the dogs used by federal agents to detect explosives in luggage and travelers are not effective. “As a result, our Nation’s aviation system and the traveling public could be at risk of a catastrophic event caused by an undetected explosive device,” according to a federal audit. You can’t blame it on the dogs, though. Their human handlers at the famously inept Transportation Security Administration (TSA) fail to train them properly or use them in an appropriate fashion, investigators from the DHS Inspector General’s office found. Some TSA managers are also more focused on moving checkpoint lines quicker than using security dogs correctly, the probe reveals.

More HERE

New Study shows Re-Open Movement concerned about others and nation's founding principles

WASHINGTON DC – A new study from The Frontier Center identifies four values that are motivating the growing Reopen Movement, revealing they are concerned about the interests of others and the nation’s foundational principles above their own self-interests.
 
The Frontier Center's three-part behavioral science study examines the deeply-held values of Reopeners and the decision pathways that have led them to support the movement.  The report reveals that critics of Reopeners—and even some supporters—are getting it wrong.
 
“This research reveals the deepest motivations of Reopeners, and provides useful data to understand more about our national psyche at this time,” said research director Anne Segal. 
 
The research found that protest participants are answering the question, “Who am I?” at a moment when their courage and convictions are being tested.

Mayor Lightfoot's boast Re-Open Illinois rally was dispersed by Chicago Police doesn't line up

Photo by Mark Weyermuller

CHICAGO - Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot was very unhappy about the group "Re-Open Illinois" organizing at the Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park on Memorial Day. She boasted via Twitter that the Re-Open Illinois rally posed an "unacceptable health risk" and was "dispersed" by the Chicago Police.  

The Chicago media took the Mayor's word for it, and reported that the Chicago Police broke up the rally. 

But Mayor Lightfoot's version of what happened doesn't line up with the version "Re-Open Illinois" rally organizers and attendees tell. Lake County Board member Dick Barr walked by a line of observing Chicago Police when leaving the rally - and says the police didn't interfere at all.

Thorner: Former CIA officer reveals Islam's Influence in America

By Nancy Thorner -

Clare Lopez, a former CIA officer, is a strategic policy and intelligence expert with a focus on Middle East, national defense, WMD, and counter terrorism issues. On Wednesday, May 20, 2020, she held a Zoom meeting on specific areas of expertise, including Islam and Iran. Ms. Lopez writes for The United West organization.

During the span of two hours, Ms. Lopez covered two topics of great importance.  The first topic, Bully of Asia, dealt with China and the coronavirus.

Di Leo: The Retail Model – From National Anchor to the Corner Store

 
By John F. Di Leo - 

For years, friends walked through the mall, chuckling as they passed that funny counterculture store, on their way to the department store that served as an anchor at that end of the mall.  They only came for the big department store, for its holiday sales and gift cards, and the licensed sweatshirts and jackets that they wore everywhere. 

They never noticed, but they often passed another group, going the other way.  That group would enter at the department store entrance because they liked parking there, but they’d never shop in it; they liked the little boutiques down the aisles; that’s where they spent their time.

Across the mall, on the other end of the wheel, another couple of friends headed toward the sporting goods store, never noticing the couple passing them in the other direction, headed for the health food store or the “natural crafts” shop halfway down the aisle.  For years, these stores had all been the source of smiles, or maybe sneers, from each other’s respective customer bases.

Victor Davis Hanson: Losing Our Fears, in War and Plague

Seventy-five years ago this month, Germany surrendered, ending the European theater of World War II. At the war’s beginning, no one believed Germany would utterly collapse in May 1945.

On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, the day of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, German invaders were on the verge of capturing Moscow. Britain was isolated. London had barely survived a terrible German bombing during the Blitz.

A sleeping America was neutral, but it was beginning to realize it was weak and mostly unarmed in a scary world.

More HERE

4 Ways the 1957 Pandemic Resembles, and Differs From, COVID-19

A new pandemic that originated from Asia sweeps the world, hitting the United States during a time of economic prosperity, striking coastal cities the hardest, and eventually prompting a global recession. 

Plenty of consternation erupts over why the U.S. government and World Health Organization were so caught off guard when they should have seen the virus coming. Some apparent ambiguity exists about whether the outbreak began in China or elsewhere.  

Amid the response of the federal government and criticism of politicians, a doctor and federal public health expert emerges as somewhat of a celebrity. 

Ultimately, the disease kills 116,000 Americans, and at least 1.1 million around the world, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Other estimates say 2 million or more die globally.

The year was 1957 and the disease was the Asian flu in what some called the H2N2 pandemic. The H2N2 virus was made up of three genes originating from the avian influenza A virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

More HERE

When People See Nonprofits Persevering, They’ll Know the Nation Will Persevere

If people see our nonprofits going on, it is a sign we intend the nation shall go on. Andrew P. McIndoe writes:

A half-finished Capitol dome marked the Washington skyline in 1861 as war began to tear the nation apart. Montgomery Meigs, head of the project, immediately halted the dome’s construction so that funding for the preservation of the Capitol could be redirected to the preservation of the very Union it represented.

But President Lincoln insisted on completing the Capitol dome as planned. “If people see the Capitol going on,” he said, “it is a sign we intend the Union shall go on.” In 1865, Lincoln delivered his second inaugural address at the fully finished dome….

Religious Liberty in COVID-19’s Wake

Religious liberty cases are rising during the coronavirus pandemic. Mark l. Movsesian writes:

Ever since it became clear that community spread of the COVID-19 virus constitutes a serious threat to public health, state and local governments have issued restrictions on public gatherings. The rules differ from place to place. Sometimes the restrictions apply to gatherings of any size. Sometimes they apply to gatherings of more than a specified number of people; the most common number seems to be five or 10. Typically, the bans do not apply to gatherings for “essential” purposes. For example, in New York, where I live, the ban on public gatherings does not apply to hospitals and health-care agencies, grocery and liquor stores, hardware and home repair stores, and banks, among other things.

Did We Ever Consent to This?

That two weeks or two months of lockdown would prevent the feared deaths from ever occurring was a false hope.

Our Federal and state governments implemented unprecedented measures beginning in March to stem the spread of COVID-19.  Informed consent provides a foundation of medical ethics.  Did our elected officials and public health experts get our informed consent for policies that have put 30 million Americans out of work?

Medical experiments have often been performed on unsuspecting subjects, like the infamous Tuskegee Experiment.  The U.S. Public Health Service in 1932 began studying the health effects of syphilis on African- American men recruited with a promise of free health care.  Even after penicillin emerged as a treatment, the study participants still only received placebos and went untreated until public revelation in 1972.

Informed consent became the ethical dividing line.  According to the American Medical Association, “The process of informed consent occurs when communication between a patient and physician results in the patient’s authorization or agreement to undergo a specific medical intervention.”  A patient should be provided information on “the burdens, risks, and expected benefits of all options, including foregoing treatment.”

More HERE

Coronavirus, Liberty and Privacy

Efforts to get us to accept and even support more of this government intrusion and data mining into our private affairs is one of the great dangers facing us in the coronavirus crisis.

The coronavirus crisis has, once more, reminded us all of how much we live in an interdependent world in which what happens in one part of the globe has serious impacts in many other places, and how each of our own actions potentially have implications and importance for the well-being of multitudes of others around us, both near and far. The question is, what societal arrangement is most likely to effectively and successfully assure cooperative coordination of all that we are doing? 

Dr. Diane Coyle, professor of economics at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, believes that the coronavirus pandemic demonstrates the need for greater politically organized collective action, both in the current crisis and looking ahead. She argues in, “Covid-19 and the End of Individualism,” that the market economy has met its match, and political paternalism in the forms of regulation and control is needed in its place, more than ever. 

However, some of us would reply that it is precisely because of our mutual interconnectedness in a global division of labor and exactly because each of our individual actions have influences on the well-being of others that we need to utilize a system of open, competitive markets even more than before to overcome the personal and societal effects from the coronavirus. 

More HERE

The Fallen Soldier

Others have made the ultimate sacrifice so that you could be free. Remember them—today, and always. A moving tribute, written and narrated by former Navy Seal and author Jocko Willink.

20 GOP IL House members form "IL Taxpayer Freedom Caucus"

Springfield, IL – A group of 20 Republican House members announced Friday they're forming the "Illinois Taxpayer Freedom Caucus" within the House Republican Caucus. 

Why are they forming? Thus far, there's been a "lack of meaningful action to address the state’s financial woes," they write in a press release.  Their primary focus will be the "promotion of the structural and ethical reforms Illinois desperately needs."

Members of the Taxpayer Freedom Caucus include Representatives John Cabello (R-Machesney Park); Joe Sosnowski (R-Rockford); Blaine Wilhour (R-Effingham); Dan Caulkins (R-Decatur); Brad Halbrook (R-Shelbyville); Chris Miller (R-Oakland); Allen Skillicorn (R-Crystal Lake); Darren Bailey (R-Xenia); Andrew Chesney (R-Freeport); David McSweeney (R-Barrington Hills); Amy Grant (R-Wheaton); Terri Bryant (R-Murphysboro); Randy Freese (R-Quincy); Dave Severin (R-Benton); Tom Morrison (R-Palatine); Tom Weber (R-Lake Villa); Patrick Windhorst (R-Metropolis); Dan Swanson (R-Alpha); Charlie Meier (R-Okawville); and Tony McCombie (R-Savanna).

The group's joint statement says:

Who Are the COVID-19 Dictators?

We are at war against the globalists who wish to deprive us of our freedoms and other rights that America is built to protect.

America’s Democrat Party and both the Liberal and conservative parties of Canada remind us of the old South of the U.S. where plantation owners controlled the lives of all who resided there. Under the owners’ control were the slaves they owned as well as those who managed the business of products they grew. Under the rule of today’s liberals (and even Ontario’s so-called Progressive Conservatives, an oxymoron if there ever was one), our nations now look like huge plantations.

The way we have all been managed in the face of an overly-hyped health threat is a case in point. Many people are starting to see it for what it really is—a taste of socialism gone wild—and they are beginning to protest vociferously against having the governments as their nannies, and having to pay the bill to boot. Many politicians will undoubtedly reap their just rewards in coming elections.

More HERE

Thorner: How Mail-In Ballots will end fair and free elections

By Nancy Thorner - 

Our Democratic Republic flourishes when citizens are confident their vote is free, fair, and secure.  According to a recent survey, 81% of Americans believe that election fraud is a very real problem.  

This growing concern jeopardizes our entire system of government, eroding our trust in elected leaders and undermining our confidence in the system by which they govern, beginning at the polls and rising up through the highest offices in the land, despite the misleading messaging of those who insist voter fraud does not exist. It does!

Weyermuller: Chicago Catholic faithful reject Cardinal's plan to re-open churches

By Mark Weyermuller - 

A group of Chicago Catholic faithful said they reject Cardinal Blase Cupich's published plan to re-open churches that have been closed since March 15th, as Governor Pritzker's shelter-in-place order was beginning to take effect. 

The letter, signed by Lisa Bergman Joseph and Ann Scheidler of the St. Charles Borromeo Society, was hand-delivered to the Cardinal's Archdiocese offices Thursday afternoon. 

The letter to the Cardinal says: 

Representing many of the Chicago’s Catholic faithful, the St. Charles Borromeo Society rejects your published Plan for the re-opening of our Churches.

Rather than advocating for your people’s need for the Mass and the Sacraments, as the bishops of Minnesota have just done, you have chosen to go along with Governor J.B. Pritzker’s Executive Order allowing only ten people to attend any church functions, while many secular entities have either no restrictions or significantly broader limits on the number of people allowed. This first phase does not even allow for celebration of public Masses.

11 More Cases in Which Responsible Gun Owners Saved Lives

In one incident in Chicago, a doorbell camera captured a homeowner’s incredible defense against two armed, masked men who brazenly tried to rob the residence in broad daylight.

More HERE

Pill Pushers Exploiting COVID-19 to Promote Risky Telemedicine Abortions

While no one is immune from the strains of social distancing and stay-at-home orders, it would be difficult to overstate the impact of isolation on women facing unexpected or difficult pregnancies.

As a recent profile in The New York Times points out, that means big business for enterprising abortion companies—especially the small handful of groups utilizing a Food and Drug Administration loophole to offer their lethal product via video call. 

Touted as “telemedicine abortion,” the approach sidesteps regulations by allowing a prescriber to forgo any in-person visits prior to an abortion.

More HERE

MSNBC: Americans Are Too "Obsessed" With Freedom

Got that right.

Pritzker backs off attempt to impose misdemeanor charges on IL businesses violating COVID EO

SPRINGFIELD - Governor JB Pritzker reportedly has withdrawn his emergency rule imposing a Class A Misdemeanor on businesses that violate his executive order from consideration by the Illinois General Assembly's Joint Committee on Administrative Rules. 

State Representative Amy Grant posted the announcement on her Facebook page shortly after 1 PM Wednesday: 

State Rep. Grant Wehrli confirmed Grant's announcement, saying he too, had been inundated with constituent calls.

Gov Pritzker blasts "Re-Open Illinois" protests; accuses GOP lawmakers, US Senate candidate of being "dangerous"

From video taken at Chicago rally Saturday 

CHICAGO - Monday, Governor JB Pritzker told reporters he feared for his and his family's safety because of signs that were displayed at protests in Springfield and Chicago last Saturday. 

In response to the press conference question from NPR-Illinois, "Governor, are you worried about you, or your family’s safety after anti-Semitic hate speech was used during protests over the weekend?" Pritzker said he was - because of protest signs.

"Yes, I have to admit that I am worried about my family’s safety. You saw some of the signs, some of the vehemence - those people were carrying signs with swastikas and pictures of Adolph Hitler - uh, references to me and my family. Um, yeah, I’m concerned," he said.

Photos of the Springfield rally showed one handmade sign with two swastikas and Pritzker wearing a Hitler-like mustache. A video of the Chicago rally shows protesters loudly rejecting a person flaunting a flag with a swastika. "He's not with us," the protesters said. "Soros plant!" others shouted at the flag bearer.

Re-Open Illinois group responds to “Anti-Semitic Concerns”

SPRINGFIELD - "Re-Open Illinois" - the organizers of recent protests against Governor JB Pritzker's ongoing COVID shelter-in-place executive orders - does not support any viewpoint that discriminates against Jewish people, they said in a press release Tuesday.

"That said, in response to the threat Re-Open Illinois protests pose to Illinois’ ruling class, the media has collaborated with Governor Pritzker and his allies to disingenuously attack those protesting their agenda," the group said.

"Those Pritzker allies include a liberal mouthpiece Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which is run by former Obama administration staffer Jonathan Greenblatt and Illinois’ House Republican Leader Jim Durkin, who has been accurately called a 'fake Republican' and 'corrupt insider' by conservative state representatives in his own caucus," they said.

Rep. Bailey: When will Pritzker's emergency powers end?

LOUISVILLE – Governor Pritzker wants an emergency rule that would result in adding a legal crackdown to his weeks-long economic shutdown of Illinois - making the opening of "non-essential" businesses a Class A misdemeanor with punishments that could include up to a year in jail time for offenders. 

State Rep. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) issued this statement in response:

The Governor’s proposed rule, “would give law enforcement the authority to enforce the governor's orders during the declared emergencies, including filing a misdemeanor charge against a business that defies the orders,” according to a report by the online news outlet, The Center Square.

The Governor was elected to office in 2018, but the public has been ignored since he began these series of Executive Orders.

The Declaration of Independence declares we have “unalienable rights.”  These are rights that come from our “Creator”, not the government. As the Declaration states, the government derives its just powers “from the consent of the governed.”

How long will the Governor be able to rule by Executive Order and Emergency Rule? The rest of the year? Through 2021, or 2022 when he is up for reelection? Or, until he gets tired, gives up and heads to his $12 million horse farm in Florida? 

New Lenox Salon providing hair extensions gets special permission to open to prevent "psychological harm"

NEW LENOX - A New Lenox hair salon was granted special permission to open under Governor Pritzker's ongoing Executive Orders simply because they provide hair extensions - something that would be considered an essential service. 

"The hair extension services that you provide your customers prevents physical and psychological harm. This essential service was permitted as of May 15, 2020," wrote Jason A. Anderson of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity in a letter to the owner of Clean Beauty Boutique on Cedar Road.

McDermed: With Democrat Majority, Lower Expectations For General Assembly

By State Rep. Margo McDermed (R-Mokena) - 

After two months of inaction, the General Assembly is finally reconvening to have some input on how the state navigates the coronavirus pandemic.

Over the past few months I believe that our governor has chosen not to actually govern, but instead has turned over decision making about our state solely to scientists. Yes, we must be guided by science and safety but our jobs as elected officials is to balance complex, ever changing science with every other aspect of life.

The Governor and legislature are supposed to utilize science, but then create policy that weighs risks and outcomes. By hiding behind science, the governor can take the easy way out and avoid tough decisions. Naturally if the only basis for decisions is science, every problem is one-dimensional. If you’re a hammer, every problem is a nail. Life isn’t like that. It’s multi-dimensional.

Letter to Editor: Dear Class of 2020: Don't listen to the cynics. Keep that bar raised high!

By Nicole Santini -

My son, Connor, is a member of the Class of 2020. Right now we should be planning graduation parties and attending end of year banquets and festivities. We should be reminiscing about prom and all of the fun times that go along with senior year. Sometimes I wonder if all of the things they are missing are harder for us, as parents, than they are for our kids?  Maybe Connor will never really understand how great all of the things he missed out on could have been? The only thing I know for sure is that whatever is guiding this “virtual” movement has nothing to do with safety, and everything to do with intentionally changing American culture.

Sen. Plummer: Disappointing "Politics over Policy" during COVID-19 Crisis

By State Senator Jason Plummer (R-Edwardsville) - 

Compassion. Leadership. Empathy.

There aren't many Governor JB Pritzker supporters in Iroquois County but, wow, one found us and she's classy. I've attached her comment.

This is what happens when you have a governor who demeans and name-calls, not leads. This is what happens when you try to scare people instead of provide accurate information and transparency. This is what happens when you hide data and move goal posts. People react in negative ways and they are unsure what is real and what is not.

The governor messages that if you don't agree 100% with him then you don't care about health, safety, and people's lives. It's childish, ridiculous, and it is obviously wrong. He knows it's not true, but he hides behind straw-man arguments instead of engaging in reasonable dialogue. Other states are far more transparent and other governors are far more accountable. Those states are seeing more success in their fights against this terrible virus.

Sadly, some people who want to put politics over policy are willing to mimic the governor's bullying strategy. This has all led to something very disappointing - people turning on each other instead of working together during this crisis. I'm saddened to watch certain people attack their neighbors during this time when we should all be helping our neighbors.

Thorner: Will the US learn from Canada's serious coronavirus blunder?

     Canadian scientist        Tom Harris

By Nancy Thorner - 

The idea for this article originated from a YouTube lecture shared with me by Canadian scientist Tom Harris. Harris presented his lecture titled, Covid-l9 in Canada: A Serious Blunder, from his home in Ottawa, Canada, on April 30, 2020.  At the time, Harris was stuck at home because of Covid-19; however, a recent communication with Harris informed me, "We are in partial lock down. Some businesses are starting to open up.”

Harris is Executive Director of the Ottawa, Canada-based International Climate Science Coalition, and a policy advisor to The Heartland Institute. He has 40 years of experience as a mechanical engineer/project manager, science and technology communications professional, technical trainer and S&T advisor to a former Opposition Senior Environment Critic in Canada’s Parliament.

As with our northern neighbor, the situation in Canada is strikingly similar to the scenario now playing out with the coronavirus pandemic in the US, in particular Illinois.

Di Leo: A Day at the Mall - back when shopping was fun

By John F. Di Leo - 

For at least two hundred years, one of the goals of the retail industry has been to make shopping fun – to make a trip to the general store, or the downtown retail district, or the indoor mall an enjoyable, even entertaining experience.

Stores are designed with an eye to bright colors and comfortable surroundings. Malls have been built with stages in the wings, so they could bring in high school choirs for Christmas caroling, or personal appearances by pop stars or children’s TV performers. Department stores like Nordstrom’s, and grocery stores like Mariano’s spend the money for both a fine piano and a live pianist to entertain the shoppers as they go by.

None of these measures really add anything to the value of that pair of earrings or cufflinks, that candelabra or easy chair, that case of wine or bag of groceries for which you came. 

But these various forms of decoration and entertainment work together to draw you to that store or mall in the first place, and then to inspire you to stay and shop some more. And the longer and more frequently you’re there because you’re comfortable, the more you’ll buy.  A win-win, for both the store itself and the economy at large.

The 2006 Origins of the Lockdown Idea

Now begins the grand effort, on display in thousands of articles and news broadcasts daily, somehow to normalize the lockdown and all its destruction of the last two months. We didn’t lock down almost the entire country in 1968/69, 1957, or 1949-1952, or even during 1918. But in a terrifying few days in March 2020, it happened to all of us, causing an avalanche of social, cultural, and economic destruction that will ring through the ages.

There was nothing normal about it all. We’ll be trying to figure out what happened to us for decades hence.

How did a temporary plan to preserve hospital capacity turn into two-to-three months of near-universal house arrest that ended up causing worker furloughs at 256 hospitals, a stoppage of international travel, a 40 percent job loss among people earning less than $40,000 per year, devastation of every economic sector, mass confusion and demoralization, a complete ignoring of all fundamental rights and liberties, not to mention the mass confiscation of private property with forced closures of millions of businesses?

More HERE

Illinois Has Most Coronavirus Restrictions In Country: Study

A new report shows Illinois has implemented the most-restrictive measures of any state in the country to combat the coronavirus, according to the personal finance website WalletHub, less than two weeks after a previous list ranked Illinois as the No. 4 "most strict" spot.

The least restrictive states in the country were South Dakota, Wisconsin and Idaho, according to the report. The WalletHub study put states into four general categories: those with low restrictions and low death rates, low restrictions and high death rates, high restrictions and high death rates, and high restrictions and high death rates.

Illinois fell into the last category, ranking high for both restrictions and deaths.

More HERE

Rossi: Bizarre and Lethal Attacks on Hydroxychloroquine As a Cure for COVID-19

By Randy Rossi - 

The bizarre attacks on hydroxychloroquine as a safe and effective cure for COVID 19 are not only factually incorrect, they are killing Americans. There have been multiple scientific studies and reports that prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that hydroxychloroquine combined with azithromycin are an effective, safe, and inexpensive cure for COVID 19. The facts are so overwhelming in support of hydroxychloroquine that one has to ask why do liberals, Democrats, and much of the liberal news media constantly attack hydroxychloroquine? I will get to that in a minute!

Let’s start with global doctors’ opinions on hydroxychloroquine. Sermo did a poll of 6,227 doctors around the world in April asking them what medicines they thought were most effective in treating COVID 19. Hydroxychloroquine was rated #1 by 37% of those doctors, azithromycin was rated #2 by 32% of those doctors, and “nothing” was rated #3. Many of those doctors actually successfully used hydroxychloroquine to treat their patients. Let that sink in for a minute. Doctors around the world rate Hydroxychloroquine as the #1 treatment for COVID 19 yet Democrats and much of the media constantly attack it and vilify it. Why haven’t you heard this and why are liberals & the liberal media hiding this? Hang in there!

With Leaders Like These

State Senator Bill Brady is the leading Republican in the Illinois Senate. State Representative Jim Durkin is the leading Republican in the Illinois House. At a time like this, these individuals should be operating as the courageous and loyal opposition to the Democrat ruling party, which currently controls every aspect of state government.

Instead, they've relegated themselves to virtual press conferences occasionally held more than a month after the Governor executed a historic Executive Branch power grab. And even then they show themselves impotent and ignorant of the most basics tenets of our Constitutional Republic.

Case in point, when the mainstream media asked their predictable question about participants and signage at the weekend rally in Springfield, Brady and Durkin displayed their obtuseness. (transcript below the fold)

Based on their select criticism (and silence) today and previously, below is how Sen. Brady and Rep. Durkin seem to define freedom of speech.

Below is FREE speech to Brady, Durkin, the Dems and media.

Below is FREE speech to Brady, Durkin, the Dems and media.

Below is FREE speech to Brady, Durkin, the Dems and media.

Below is HATE speech to Brady, Durkin, the Dems and media.

In the United States, ALL speech is free speech - whether you like what is said, or not. Someone please inform Brady and Durkin.

With leaders like these ...

(transcript of Brady's and Durkin's response below)

40% more likely to continue homeschooling after COVID shutdown ends

Homeschooling may not be as difficult and unrealistic as many have thought - at least that what a surprising number of families have discovered during the 2020 COVID shutdown.

A RealClear Opinion Research survey of 2,122 registered voters shows that support for educational choice is strong, and that a significant portion of parents are more likely to pursue homeschooling opportunities after the lockdowns end. The results show that 40% of families are more likely to homeschool or virtual school after lockdowns, and that 64% support school choice and 69% support the federal Education Freedom Scholarships proposal.

Here's what they were asked about homeschooling ... 

Are you more or less likely to enroll your son or daughter in a homeschool, neighborhood homeschool co-op, or virtual school once the lockdowns are over?

Their responses: 

More Likely: 40.8%
Less Likely: 31.1%

"Chicago Thuggery" directed at Romanian Churches

CHICAGO - Chicago is drawing national attention with the way Mayor Lori Lightfoot chose to deal with Romanian churches that held services Sunday. She ordered "no parking" for nine blocks around the churches. Liberty Counsel, a legal team defending the churches' First Amendment rights, is calling Lightfoot's behavior "mob-like thuggery." 

They write: 

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has engaged in mob-like thuggery against the Romanian churches that have begun to meet in-person. Even though these churches have their own private parking, and their members don’t park on the street, the mayor ordered “No Parking” signs along the streets for nine blocks around the churches. 

On Sunday, Mayor Lightfoot blocked off nine blocks around the churches posting “No Parking” signs, hoping she would get the neighbors mad at the church. However, the churches are not using street parking with their limited services. The aldermen sent letters to the neighbors of the churches instructing them not to park on the street from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. The letters stated the reason for the “No Parking” signs was due to the Romanian churches holding limited services.

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “The actions by the Illinois Governor and Chicago Mayor are reminiscent of mob-like thuggery. These pastors lived under Communist Romania, and now the suppression of the church and their faith has come to their adopted homeland. The outrageous action by Mayor Lori Lightfoot is putting people in danger. These heavy-handed tactics are unconstitutional and will not succeed.”

READ MORE HERE

Where’s Weyermuller? Reporting on Chicago COVID-19 protest

By Mark Weyermuller - 

As states around the country begin to open up, Illinois appears to be stuck in a COVID shutdown that may never end. This week, neighboring states Indiana, Wisconsin, and Iowa all began opening what Illinois' governor deems "non-essential" businesses - including bars, dine-in restaurants, small retail shops, gyms, nail salons, and hair stylists.

Yet similar businesses in Illinois remain closed.